


WotC Odd RP Soldier Logs season 2

by OddXCOMarchive



Series: WotC Odd RP Soldier Logs season 2 logs and roleplays [1]
Category: XCOM (Video Games) & Related Fandoms
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Explicit Language, Gen, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-01
Updated: 2018-04-05
Packaged: 2019-03-25 14:47:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 74
Words: 284,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13837005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OddXCOMarchive/pseuds/OddXCOMarchive
Summary: Editor's note:**************************************************************************************************************Check out the special Christmas side log here - the events are chronologically placed just before this chapter's missionhttps://archiveofourown.org/works/14172639**************************************************************************************************************





	1. Preface

**Preface and Author list:**  
  
This multi-chapter fanfic and others like it uploaded to this account are the collaborative works of multiple authors who are fans of ChristopherOdd, a Canadian youtuber and streamer who specializes in story-rich games; especially the XCOM series. For XCOM2, supporters on his [Discord channel](https://discord.gg/christopherodd) submit custom soldiers to character pools for each campaign. The campaign that this fic is based on is [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nnGtoEwNBQ&list=PLj_Goi54wf0eKfIwCCXmRHxfVZT_aPg1C)  
  
Typically, one mission is uploaded each day. The randomized nature of XCOM2 character use, development and interactions easily weave their own story arcs in the broader campaign; and this has evolved into a tradition of writing character logs and roleplays within Odd’s fan community. This multi-chapter fanfic, like others uploaded to this account, is the work of multiple authors. These writers can be broadly divided into three categories:  
  
1\. Character creators writing logs for the character they submitted,  
2\. Authors who obtained permission to write for a character created by another fan, and  
3\. Authors writing on behalf of XCOM2 non-player characters (NPCs).  
  
Each fanfic is therefore a unique retelling of XCOM2’s campaign and additional playable downloadable content (DLC), where applicable. Each character brings to the campaign their own unique backstory, perspective and personality as writers seek to portray how they would react to the events in each episode. Where applicable, content relating to characters without a writer was written with their creator’s input, or else limited to combat actions shown in Odd’s videos. Logs for each episode/mission are collated into a single chapter. In addition, several writers have penned spin-off roleplay chapters – these are uploaded separately and are linked from the main body of the parent campaign log at the appropriate episodes.  
  
Improvisation and commitment lie at the heart of this exercise. XCOM2 campaigns can consist of more than seventy missions; and not every writer is able to arrange their schedule around seventy days of real life commitments to write for every mission involving their character. As writers come and go, the result can seem chaotic to some readers and it is best to enjoy these logs alongside the Youtube playlist for the corresponding campaign to gain a sense of closure for some. Other writers have been able to write consistently and allow their character to develop organically for the entire length of the campaign – if they were not killed in the process. In-universe, it might be helpful to think of these logs as recovered material – perhaps some were lost in Advent cyberattacks, got wiped by electronic malfunction, or were simply misplaced…  
  
The following is a list of all characters whose logs appear in this fic, in order of appearance. Writers’ names are in parentheses.  
  
ROV-R – GREMLIN (Suggestiveartifacts)  
Zoey ‘Kohlla’ Durand – Templar (Ulti)  
Mr ‘Huntsman’ E – Specialist (Mrkyle1000, Daemoniaque)  
Will ‘BillyTerror’ Blazkivitz – Sniper (Bloodreaper)  
Firebrand – Pilot (Andrei Cineva)  
Harry Preston – Engineer (Ziggs)  
JT ‘Numbers’ Stevens – Specialist (Bilbo212)  
Connor ‘Eternal’ Magnusson – Ranger (Gunner^)  
Pagenn ‘Raven’ Darksky – Grenadier (Apoc)  
Jebediah Primm – Communications Officer (Jebediah Primm)  
Diego ‘Rumble’ Ramirez – Ranger (Stiehl9s)  
Steven ‘La Volpe’ Fox – Engineer (Shepherd1425)  
Alex ‘Rodats’ Deathscope – Reaper (Rodats)  
Ilpo ‘Agent’ Piipponen – Specialist (Snobster)  
Damon Nights – Engineer (Damon_Nightshade)  
Derek Walters – Engineer (Connor Walters)  
Hunter ‘Vagabond’ Peterson – Ranger (Vagabond)  
Experiment ‘Collux’ C011UX-001 – Sniper (Collux13)  
Jenny ‘the Admiral’ Fleet – Specialist (FleetAdmiralJ)  
Scarlett ‘Reaper’ Barton – Templar (redragonbane)  
Julian – SPARK (midnight the traveler)  
Stepan ‘Kebab’ Evtushenko – Grenadier (Suggestiveartifacts)  
Karson Delior – Engineer (KArrrrrrlllll)  
Ex-Advent double agents – Skirmishers (KillerCurrent)  
Stefan ‘Mr Bavaria’ Brücker – Ranger (G4MBL3)  
Bruce ‘Pineapple’ Thunder – Grenadier (KhanSwann)  
Robert ‘Crow’ Urra – Templar (CrowSkull)  
Liam ‘Harbinger’ O'Neal – Ranger (Deadput)  
With additional single logs by Hawkster (Firebrand and Zoey ‘Kohlla’ Durand) and Suggestiveartifacts (Ex-Squaddie Lok Peng)  
  
Special thanks to FleetAdmiralJ for creating the mission and soldier statistics tracking site:  
http://fleettwitch.live/xcom/wotc2/index.html  
  
Edited by: Bilbo212 and Suggestiveartifacts


	2. Ep 1 - Operation Gatecrasher

**Ep 1-----Operation Gatecrasher----------------------------------------------------------**  
DISPLAY LOG (ROV-R)  
WELCOME BACK!  
<1505:10 28.02.2035> begin PML-001  
<1505:21 28.02.2035> Initializing post-mission scan…  
<1505:30 28.02.2035> #Soldiers = 4/4  
<1505:33 28.02.2035> No medical treatment required.  
<1506:16 28.02.2035> Inventory update: + Salvage.  
<1507:44 28.02.2035> Play: Roar – Katy Perry  
<1532:05 28.02.2035> Inventory update: - Meals, - Drinks  
<1604:37 28.02.2035> Inventory update: - Meals, - Drinks (Alcoholic)  
<1633:12 28.02.2035> Inventory update: - Drinks (Alcoholic)  
<1715:11 28.02.2035> Inventory update: - Drinks (Alcoholic)  
<1746:49 28.02.2035> Inventory update: - Drinks (Alcoholic)  
<1812:09 28.02.2035> Inventory update: - Drinks (Alcoholic)  
<1848:40 28.02.2035> Inventory update: - Drinks (Alcoholic)  
Good evening, Administrator LILY SHEN  
<1903:13 28.02.2035> User permissions updated.  
<1922:45 28.02.2035> Request denied: Drinks (Alcoholic)  
<1922:48 28.02.2035> Request denied: Drinks (Alcoholic)  
<1922:49 28.02.2035> Request denied: Drinks (Alcoholic)  
<1922:52 28.02.2035> Initiating evasive maneuvers…  
+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++  
Log 1: Zoey “Kohlla” Durand  
02/28/2035  
\--- Pre-Mission  
So this is it… XCOM. Humanity’s greatest defenders, though as I can see they are merely its remains. I’m not surprised that Geist picked me to be their liaison, but I do worry that my work with this resistance cell will not be as effective as it was whilst I was under Geist’s orders. I’ve heard about this Commander Odd, and whilst the stories about him paint the picture of a great tactician, I only worry he will not use me to the best of my abilities. I suppose time will tell.  
\--- Post-Mission  
Our first mission with Commander Odd was a success, and not just that, but a flawless victory in every way. Not even under Geist did I find these kind of results. The aliens certainly weren’t prepared for us, and they definitely weren’t prepared for me. The Elder’s slaves could not hold us off, nor could they stand against the fury of my blades. It was certainly quite the battle though, but we pulled through, thanks in no small part to my own efforts. I drew the alien’s fire, and let my team do the work – not to say I didn’t get in the thick of it myself. There is no greater feeling than the rush of combat, feeling alien blood splatter along my weaponry and armour – and it seems this Commander knows that too. Perhaps I was wrong to judge him the way that I did, but as I said in my previous log, only time will tell.  
The others… well… if this mission is any indication, then I don’t know what I can say about them. Blazkivitz and Mr. E held their ground, and Deshong did for a time as well. But his panic early on has certainly put doubt into my mind. I don’t even know these people and yet I was already willing to lay down my life for them, and I could see the Commander knew that too. Two overwatches, our backs pinned against the wall and I risked it for them. I don’t know why. I don’t even know them yet.  
But I do know that I would do it again.  
+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++  
Log of SQ. ‘Huntsman’  
Log #1  
02/28/2035  
Man out of the frying pan and into the war. Don't even know these kids yet and yet here I am. United in three goals. Make a distraction, send a message, KILL those Alien bastards that turned my son and took my memories. All in all I'd say I can trust Billy, Doc, and Kohlla to watch my back. No more time to talk now. Let those bastards meet our resolve head on!  
{log closed - unresolved}

{log opened}  
Well I don't think I could ask for a better start! No casualties, no wounds. Although I think when I get back I'm going to ask Shen for one of those Gremlin things. I can see how it could help us out in the field. I know I can keep up now despite my older age. I will do what I can to keep my companions protected. I'm just an old dog who will go to the grave to see these aliens brought to their knees. I have no family and no true home. The others around me though, they may have a future after this war. I'm nothing special but I'll do all I can to see them home. Even if it means my life ends there. I think I need a drink. Gonna go see if my new comrades would like to join me!

Live well. Fight strong. Die with honor. ~The Huntsman motto~

+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++  
Journal Entry 1#  
Name: Will 'Billy-Terror' Blazkivitz  
Date: REDACTED  
Operation: Gatecrasher 

Another day another op, though this time I worked the legendary XCOM. They saw my history and track me down, I never was one to stay too quiet after all ADVENT saw to that. 

Op was chaotic but then again when fighting with someone who makes blades with their mind while Alien bastards tried to take over our own minds things can get crazy. Damn girl carved up these ADVENT arseholes like a Thanksgiving turkey. Gunfire flew past each side but the squad came out unscathed. 

Seems like XCOM knew to pick decent soldiers. perhaps their reputation precedes them then. I'll stick around, for now, see how it goes if these are truly the guys to kick the Aliens off our planet. When we got back they issued me proper weapons, a sniper rifle and a pistol. I'm no stranger to these weapons, years of fighting honed my skills on timing my shot... Simply remember this, count to four... Inhale... Count to four... Fire. You'll hit your mark.  
+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++  
Firebrand's personal log - March 7th 2035 (Entry #1)

(sounds of static) "We're in the pipe, 5 by 5." (more static)

Yeah, this is me. The woman behind the proverbial wheel. I'm Firebrand. My real name? Talk to Central. If he gives you clearance, he'll tell you. My file is classified.

It feels good to get our fightback underway around here. Even though it felt bad to lose Crasher-1 and Crasher-2. At least we got the Commander back. People might not care about what I say. I'm usually on my own in the hangar, looking after the Skyranger, making sure it's in pristine order, ready to be deployed. Central is my most frequent visitor. We go way back ... I was in the original XCOM base. Just a kid back then, doing security around the place and helping around the hangar. I knew Big Sky too, good friend. I still wonder if we'll ever find him. I miss him. Vahlen too, even though she had some strange priorities. She seemed very good at her job.

I took the Ranger out a week ago, the first proper mission after the Commander's rescue. It gets lonely up in the air, thank God for the mission audio feed. It almost got quite hairy with that one panic moment. The Templar saved the day. Brave woman. I can handle a weapon and pop a few Advent here and there if needed, but she's definitely something else. We got back without a scratch.

Maintenance for a week, the Ranger seemed a bit rusty. My way to fill the time. I'm not really mingling with the recruits. Not really sure if they want me there anyway. I sneak sometimes in the bar for a quick drink, when they're not there. Just a quick one, since I need to be sober for a potential take-off. Then get back here, because you never know when the alarm would sound.

Like it just did now. Time to get the Ranger ready.

Firebrand out.


	3. Ep 2 - Operation Buried Stallion

**Ep 2-----Operation Buried Stallion-------------------------------------------------------**  
User: “Engineer Harry Preston”  
Date: 7th of March, 2035

Entry #1:  
“Uh… Is this thing on? You’d expect I’d be better at this for wo-- Oh, the light. Right, well, not sure if this matters at all, but here it goes… Ahum…”  
There is a brief pause, followed by the sound of a chair adjusting.  
“For the record: This is Engineer Harry Preston, answering to Chief Engineer Shen, of the Avenger. Time and date is currently… 8:34 pm, 7th of March 2035. Entry number one.  
So… where to begin? Let me start off by clarifying I did not steal this logbook. It was given to me by Carrie, that is Carrie Adams from Medical. I’m apparently a little too enthusiastic about everything and everyone, and rather than disturbing people in their jobs she handed me a logbook to vent in. Now, I know these are usually only kept by actual soldiers out in the field to gauge their mental health, so it’s entirely possible she’s just making a stab at me; but I prefer to think she cares about the operation’s and my own well-being instead.  
With that out of the way, I think what I really wanted to talk about is that last mission. Or should I say how **awesome** our troops are? I was watching the mission feeds with the rest of the crew - just the ones that weren’t critical to mission success, relax guys - and it was like watching an action movie! Maybe we should’ve expected that, what with Corporal Blazkivitz being an ex-movie star and all. I mean, sure, it started off a little rough. A lot of shots were being exchanged but very little connected, and then there were these… Frankly, I don’t really know what they are. According to Dr. Tygan, the Chief Scientist, they’re… people? Or at least, the result of what happens when people stay around the radiation of the crowd control pods dropped in the initial invasion for too long. I’m not going to lie, they’re giving me major zombie vibes. I don’t envy our troops for having to go toe to toe with these things. There are so many! Oh, and did I mention they explode? Because they do. Well, some do. I’m not sure how to tell the difference between the ones that do and those that don’t, but there’s definitely different types of them. Some of them are disturbingly quick on their feet instead, for instance. The good news though is they don’t play buddy-buddy with Advent. They swarmed them just as much as they did our own.  
Alright Harry, you’re ranting again. Back to the topic: our soldiers. So as I was saying, quite a few misses early on. I can understand it though. If I’d have encountered these Lost for the first time I’d probably just have turned tail and ran. And let’s not forget those were people once… Oh, I didn’t mention that yet, did I? These “zombies”? We’re calling them The Lost. Figure it’s a bit more respectful than plain old “zombie”. So anyway, between Corporal Durand slicing up a couple Advent, Corporal Blazkivitz eventually found his groove again. With the team realizing their time was running out, Durand set out to chase down the Advent General while Blazkivitz guarded Corporal Deshong and “Huntsman” from having a really bad day. They still took some hits, but things would’ve been a lot worse if he wasn’t such a crack shot with his pistol.  
The real spectacle came in the form of Corporal Durand though. What a woman, let me tell you! Advent may put their Generals in quality armor, but nothing could prepare them for Durand. In between Lost all over the warehouse, the General never saw her coming. However, unlike the other Advent, the General didn’t go down by a single slash. Somehow, she knew this and before he could even turn on her she already dashed back outside again. You should’ve been in the Rec room at that moment. Just about anyone was audibly amazed how in the time it took for the General to recover and keep moving toward his evac zone, Durand actually got **on top** of the warehouse. I would say she climbs like a monkey, but that almost sounds like an insult. In any case, the room was filled with cheers when Huntsman hit an amazing shot on a Lost securing Durand’s position. Though that was nothing compared to what followed when Durand like a damn ninja dropped **through the** skylight into the warehouse to deliver death from above to the target. She even repaid Huntsman by slicing up the Sectoid that tried to mess with his brain.  
After that it was basically just cleanup. Blazkivitz tried to get fancy by nailing a bunch of quick consecutive shots on Lost so to not be outdone by Durand, but got reeled back in by a scratch from a Lost straight to the face. He’ll probably be in medical for a day or two to make sure the wound doesn’t infect. Goodness knows what strange things that could do to your body. Better not to think about it, I suppose.  
Other than that not too many things have changed. I don’t quite want to use the word “calm” since… Well, I’m still aboard the most high-profile ship on the planet, part of a Resistance to the ruling force of said planet. I don’t think things will be calm for quite a while, but I think I’m handling it well? No way to know for sure I suppose. Then again all I have to do is make sure our systems get the maintenance when they need it, so how bad can it be? That being said, last mission did bring in additional Resistance support. This time in the form of another Chief Engineer by the name of Jeremy Henderson. Make no mistake, Chief Shen will still be leading the Engineering team, but at least she has others with similar expertise to delegate the more challenging tasks to. On the one hand, this means we’ll be having an easier time in constructing the Guerilla Tactics training facility the Commander requested. On the other hand, that also means our timeline just moved up from finishing in 22 days, to finishing in 11. I think we can handle it, but we’ll probably burn through most of our supplies doing it. Here’s hoping the Commander can budget well.  
Anyway, I think that’s about all I wanted to talk about. Well… Not really, but this has been dragging on for quite a while and this log isn’t going anywhere, right? So uh… How do I do this? Uh… Engineer Harry Preston, signing off?

… Or someth--”  
+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++  
DISPLAY LOG (ROV-R)  
WELCOME BACK!  
<1528:31 07.03.2035> begin PML-002  
<1528:32 07.03.2035> Initializing post-mission scan…  
<1530:05 07.03.2035> #Soldiers = 4/4  
<1530:08 07.03.2035> Medical alert: Penetrating lacerations, Contusions  
CPL. WILL ‘BILLYTERROR’ BLAZKIVITZ  
CPL. MR. ‘HUNTSMAN’ E  
CPL. MICHAEL ‘DOC’ DESHONG

PLEASE REPORT TO THE MEDICAL BAY IMMEDIATELY  
CPL. WILL ‘BILLYTERROR’ BLAZKIVITZ  
CPL. MR. ‘HUNTSMAN’ E  
CPL. MICHAEL ‘DOC’ DESHONG  
CPL. ZOEY ‘KOHLLA’ DURAND  
CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR PROMOTIONS  
<1532:19 07.03.2035> #Avenger Personnel (Engineer) = 1/0  
ALERT: UNAUTHORISED PERSONS detected on LOADING DECK  
Alive: 0  
Dead: 48  
<1532:16 07.03.2035> Inventory update: + Salvage.  
Good afternoon, User RICHARD TYGAN  
<1546:59 07.03.2035> You have 48 pending CORONER’S REPORTS for JOHN DOE, JOHN DOE, JOHN DOE, JOHN DOE, JOHN DOE, JOHN DOE, JOHN DOE, JOHN DOE, JOHN DOE, JOHN DOE, JOHN DOE, JOHN DOE, JOHN DOE, JOHN DOE, JOHN DOE, JOHN DOE, JOHN DOE, JOHN DOE, JOHN DOE, JOHN DOE, JOHN DOE, JOHN DOE, JOHN DOE, JOHN DOE, JOHN DOE, JOHN DOE, JOHN DOE, JOHN DOE, JOHN DOE, JOHN DOE, JOHN DOE, JOHN DOE, JOHN DOE, JOHN DOE, JOHN DOE, JOHN DOE, JOHN DOE, JOHN DOE, JOHN DOE, JOHN DOE, JOHN DOE, JOHN DOE, JOHN DOE, JOHN DOE, JOHN DOE, JOHN DOE, JOHN DOE and JOHN DOE.  
<1549:18 07.03.2035> IFF class definitions updated: ‘LOST’ enemy class added  
<1554:22 07.03.2035> Avenger HR directory updated to exclude ‘LOST’ enemy class.  
<1554:25 07.03.2035> You have 0 pending CORONER’S REPORTS.  
<1620:58 07.03.2035> Play: Lipstick and Bruises - Lit  
+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++  
Log 2: Zoey “Kohlla” Durand  
03/07/2035  
\--- Pre-Mission  
As I write this I’m getting ready to go out on Operation Buried Stallion. God knows who came up with these mission names, much less how they come up with them. As I look around in the hangar, waiting for the all-clear, I can see Deshong, Blazkivitz and E. They already look so much different than when I last saw them – they look like they’re ready for war, and I truly hope they are. Snipers, Grenade Launchers, Gatling Guns and even Drones – and all that I’ve got is my pistol and my Shard Gauntlets. That isn’t to say that the others outclass my weaponry though – I would gladly be armed only with my Shard Gauntlets and my resolve in a fight other any other weapon, any day of the week.  
Central’s mission briefing was certainly an interesting one. Today we are not only fighting ADVENT, but also the Lost. Ex-humans, and whilst I’ve never seen them up close, the others have, and I have heard their stories. To try and fight an ADVENT General I will have to bring my best, but to try and fight these “zombies” (as the crew of the Avenger have been calling them), I will have to bring out much more than that.  
\--- Post-Mission  
If I didn’t have any faith in Commander Odd and his men before, I certainly do now. That was one hell of a mission. The Lost were everywhere, and in some moments, the Aliens and their Slaves seemed just as numerous. Everyone else has in the medbay for their wounds, but I didn’t sustain much damage. Granted my legs hurt from leaping off two story buildings, but my training, armour and resolve certainly helped to minimize the damage. Even now as Geist calls for the aid of Commander Odd, I cannot go, despite how much I truly desire too. The medics say that my body and mind are too fatigued, and so my presence on Operation Ghost Fight is forbidden.  
As for Buried Stallion, I don’t know much where to begin. The Lost Hordes were almost overwhelming in number, and some even had unique abilities, such as a self-detonation that lured in more of the Lost. However, what troubled me most about them was their brains. These creatures were most certainly not human, and their psionic resonance showed that to me as plain as day. Individually, they barely have enough mental capacity for me to feel it, but each one was linked – a hive mind. And that mind was strong. As my blades punctured their bodies and pierced their thoughts, I could find no sense of an individual, only one large whole. I’ll have to report my findings to both the Commander, Tygan, and Geist.  
The men by my side today were certainly not those I fought with only a few days ago. They fought like true warriors. Even when Huntsman was disoriented, we were there for him. And when I panicked, they had my back too. I’m still ashamed that I lost my touch in the heat of that fight – it wasn’t professional of me. But that Sectoid definitely got what was coming to him, and speaking of the aliens, we most certainly cleaned them up. That General thought he could escape me, thought he could escape my wrath, but I knew otherwise. When I first plunged my blade into him, I could feel his fear as my weapons tore through both his body and mind, and I knew he had no hope to escape, as did he. Being able to finally extinguish his thoughts was exhilarating, even if after that we still had to cleave through the Lost Hordes. As I sit here in my bunk writing this before I sleep, I can still feel the rush of combat flowing through me, and I relish the fact that I soon will be able to renew that glorious sensation.  
+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++  
Journal Entry 2#  
Will 'Billy-Terror' Blazkivitz  
Date: March 7th 2035  
Operation: Buried Stallion 

Just when I thought I had seen crazy shit with the lady that makes mind blades I find zombies... I heard rumours about them but that's just it, I thought them only rumours... Bradford called them The Lost and these things attacked everything, friend or our foe. 

Shooting them was a pain in the arse with their erratic movements as but eventually, I got the timing on them. We had to deal with a horde of these freaks while still trying to hunt down the general in this chaos, I spied Kohlla ignoring the Lost mostly and instead focused the general. 

With my scope, and pistol I provided covering fire taking out those damn Zombies with the rest of the squad. Damn freaks charged us and roughed us up a little. Nothing a week in the Med-bay won't fix though. 

Kohlla managed to kill the general and then it was a matter of mopping up the zombie infestation like some glorified pest control movement. Though need to make sure which of those freaks blow up upon being shot in the head... Their deaths only bring out more.  
+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++  
Log of Cpl. Mr. (Huntsman) E  
Log Entry #2  
03/07/2035

We are off to fight another battle. They are naming this mission Buried Stallion, I just hope it's not predicting my future ha! See cause I'm a prime example of the... *Muffled Cough* Er um never mind about bad joke. According to the intelligence we are on our way to take out an advent Commander. With this team I have no worries. Should be a quick sweep wham bam thank you one less evil alien overlord. Time to get a move on though. Ramps up in 30 seconds.

{Log closed~ unresolved}

{Log open}  
(Recorded in Med bay)  
Yeah yeah, I got it doc! I'll keep it short! I can't let down those who actually read and listen to these logs now can I?

Well shit... I guess I should start this off by saying I'm sorry for being so cocky earlier. It was a bit of a shit show today. Not only did I let my emotions get the better of me but I also got wounded. I missed some shots I had no right missing. I swear if it wasn't for Kohlla we wouldn't have completed our mission. Sure the rest of us provided covering fire but she was weaving in and out with those swords like a demon straight from folklore. Still I am surprised we didn't do worse considering what we were up against. The lost were terrifying. Not so much the lumbering charging crazed body part. More the, oh they use to be just like me and there is no cure oh well gotta put me down, part. Then there was the sectoid. That bastard is lucky Kohlla got to it before me. Digging in my mind! It was like a knife against a plate while cutting into your skull. It was so disorienting I could barely stand in the few moments that followed. Still we got through. Mostly barely scathed. I mean I have a cut and heavy bruising but hey my own son shot me in the face so I've been through worse. Alright the doc is glaring a hole through my head. He wants me to get some sleep. Don't worry I'm good to fight these aliens still just need a couple days rest.

Live well. Fight strong. Die with honor. ~The Huntsman Motto~  
+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++  
Firebrand's personal log - March 13th 2035 (Entry #2)

Zombies. Why did it have to be Zombies? And, to make it worse, we had to haul the corpses back to the Avenger. That was just plain disturbing. And it wasn't just a few corpses. It was almost 50. Heck, I'd prefer dragging a Sectoid's ass in the dirt instead of carrying zombies. Obviously, I wasn't doing this on my own. The squad was helping as well ... but you get the picture.

It was a long engagement. It felt like an hour had passed until the 'all clear' signal was given. Through the audio feed, I could just imagine being there with the squad. The Templar was again outstanding. Zoey Durand, that's her name. Incredible woman. I should try and talk to her, see how she gets this done. Her bravery just seems to be through the roof.

Anyway ... Avenger picked up a signal from the old invasion. I wonder if it's Big Sky. Or Vahlen. I asked Central, he isn't sure either. He promised to keep me posted.

Our search for that signal was ended abruptly, after the Templar Leader requested our assistance. You know it ... More Zombies. I swear, if I have to carry more of those on the Ranger. I just finished cleaning it.

Right, best warm up the engines.

Firebrand out.


	4. Ep 3 - Operation Ghost Fist

Ep 3-----Operation Ghost Fist-------------------------------------------------------------  
Log: JT “Numbers” Stevens  
Date:03/20/2035  
Log entry 1

Finally, my first real fight! We dropped into a heavily infested Lost zone. Apparently a scientist got bogged down alongside a Sharpshooter with the tag “Iron-Wolf”. I was stationed with “Doc”, one of the gunners that has seen actual combat so far. I was the first one to hear them, gasping about underneath us. Doc decided to jump down anyways, making no small amount of noise and driving the lost mad. He ran ahead of everybody, trying to make it to our package as quickly as possible. Raven and Eternal took a roost (heh) and started laying down fire on the Lost beneath them and trying to cover Doc. I joined them, waiting for my chance to take a shot. One lined up right in time before he tried to jump up to Doc, my rounds ripping through his skull. Knew all those days at the range had to pay for something! Doc moved in, securing the Templar team. Lost came in from all sides, and Doc tried to secure the foothold but ended up keelhauling the escort. I noticed a veranda below us, and jumped down to take care of the lost below us. I counted zero rounds as I pumped them into a brutish looking lost, but Eternal and Raven backed me up. Doc and the Doctor started sprinting for our position as another swarm started moving in. We decided to pull back as fast as possible, with us three rookies keeping the group secure. They were coming in left and right as Eternal and I tried to light up the same lost. Doc got scraped up a bit, wasn’t able to defend himself while carrying Iron-Wolf. As more and more swarmed on us, we just broke into a mad dash for the extraction zone. We covered the package as she boarded Firebrand. With the Lost cawing at our heels, we were able to escape. 

Apparently I proved my mettle, even if I wasn’t the MVP. Everybody but the Doc earned a promotion, shame with him being the most important piece of the puzzle this mission. With my experience in mechatronics and programming, they decided to give me one of the GREMLINS, even if it is used. It’s floating around me now… looks like it’s designation is… CNR-Y. A bit scuffed up, but it looks like it’s original paintjob was yellow. I can’t wait to look under its hood! First I’ll have to req one of the fusion torches we have onboard.

We were able to secure the Commander’s biochip. A guess now the docs are cutting up an officer. Gross.

Shoot… looks like the a resistance outpost just threw up a flag. They’re calling people into the armory now. Signing off!

End of Log Entry 1  
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Journal Entry #1 – Connor “Eternal” Magnusson – 20th March 2035

I had hoped that I wouldn't see these tortured lost souls again so soon after joining XCOM, let alone my first mission. I still have too many bad memories of them that are fresh in the forefront of my mind. Memories that I won’t…can’t delve into right now. These monsters are unrelenting. Unforgiving. I hope I can replicate that against our enemies.

After our rescue mission in Vancouver I’d wager we’re off to a bloody good start. VIP rescued, asset secured, and only one minor casualty to boot. Oh, and ten kills for me. ‘Course I was keeping score, who wouldn't? I need the bragging rights for those tipsy nights down at the bar in the future. I double checked with Numbers back at base anyway. I've not know him for long but I do know that he’s always keeping track of patterns and stats like this somehow, even in the middle of battle with the Lost mere metres away. That type of thinking will turn out to be crucial out in the field where the smallest of margins are the difference between life and death.

I’ll be honest, the ranger assignment is right up my alley. These aliens deserve nothing less than a point-blank shotgun shell to the face - or whatever they have instead of a face - for what they've done to humanity. And when the ammo runs out? Then I start slicing and dicing.

Looking forward to getting back out there. Soon the aliens will realise just who they've picked a fight with.  
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Raven’s log

Log #2 Date: March 13, 2035:

-Pre Mission:  
Just got called up, really nervous but excited. Time to go, if I don't make it back...Well quoth the Raven..nevermore.

 

Post mission Log #1, March 20th, 2035.: 

Damn it. I know I could do better than that but I was nervous. What the hell were those things?? I..those were people I'm sure of it. It just proves everything about advent. My first few shots were fine, and then reality set in. I didn't realize what I was shooting until the fourth one stepped into light. It was human..but warped. I gasped and shot wide, and then missed my follow up shot because of processing. Those things were on my tail while we extracted I'm glad I made it out. I don't think I would have if not for the Commander. I did get promoted though, since I wasn't a crack shot or a good recon I got placed into the demolition division as a grenadier. Not my first choice but anything I can do to help out XCOM and take back my home. I’ve been so busy I haven’t been able to even write this until now. A week's worth of training on guns and grenades, not a bad way to learn. I just hope I can-

*Warning sounds can be heard in the background* 

Sounds like another mission. Gotta roll.

Raven out.  
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DISPLAY LOG (ROV-R)  
WELCOME BACK!  
<1323:41 13.03.2035> begin PML-003  
<1323:42 13.03.2035> Initializing post-mission scan…  
<1325:09 13.03.2035> #Soldiers = 5/4  
<1325:10 13.03.2035> SQ. FELIX ‘IRON WOLF’ GREY added to roster.  
<1325:13 13.03.2035> Medical alert: Concussions, Penetrating lacerations

REQUESTING URGENT MEDICAL ASSISTANCE for SQ. FELIX ‘IRON WOLF’ GREY  
Location: SKYRANGER HELIPAD

CPL. MICHAEL ‘DOC’ DESHONG

PLEASE REPORT TO THE MEDICAL BAY IMMEDIATELY.  
<1327:36 13.03.2035> #Avenger Personnel (Scientist) = 1/0  
<1327:38 13.03.2035> Inventory update: + Salvage  
<1330:54 13.03.2035> Play: Re: Your Brains – Jonathan Coulton  
<1331:02 13.03.2035> Syncing combat GREMLIN units…  
<1335:57 13.03.2035> Sync complete.  
CHANGELOG:  
Combat GREMLIN-1 has been renamed to CML-N.  
Combat GREMLIN-2 has been renamed to CNR-Y.  
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User: “Engineer Harry Preston”  
Date: “20th of March, 2035”

Entry #2:  
“This is Engineer Harry Preston, singing in. It is currently 12:41 pm, on the 20th of March 2035. I am currently recording this from my bunk. Things are… bad. Real bad. How do I even start this...? Let’s just go down the timeline.  
So it has been almost two weeks since my first recording. At that moment in time I figured our new Chief Engineer would have been tasked with the construction of the Guerilla tactics facility. Turns out, I was wrong. Orders came from higher up the priority was clearing out more space first, which Chief Shen calculated would give us more supplies to use on the actual construction. As such, our workload split up from the unchanged deadline of 22 days on the facility to **also** clearing the adjacent rooms. Splitting our attention this way did mean shifts are longer; and even though Chief Henderson did bring in a handful of his own people to assist, no one is particularly happy about more time-pressed work for only slightly more people. Henderson’s people are agreeable enough to work with though, so there’s that at least.  
Around the same time, our comms picked up an old XCOM distress beacon; and when I say old I mean it. Supposedly the beacon’s frequency hasn’t been used since the initial invasion. Hard to say what that means, but Command put it on hold for a few days while we resupplied near the East coast. When we did start triangulating the signal however, we were contacted by the Templar Order. For those who don’t know, they’re one of the more prominent Resistance factions, and the reason XCOM is even back up and running at all today. Were it not for their assistance in getting the project back on its feet I wouldn’t even be sitting here today. Needless to say that also makes it damn hard for Command to refuse an assistance request from Geist, the Templar leader.  
Now, I don’t want to make this log an hour long - I probably don’t even have that time; I’ll get to that in a second - but the short version is simple: A prolific scientist friendly to the Resistance by the name of Dr. Diane Rodgers was being extracted from the claws of Advent. In their attempt to leave the city, they got spotted and a firefight broke out, forcing them to flee into an abandoned pre-war city which - you guessed it - are full of Lost. The result being Rodgers shaking the Advent pursuers, but also losing most of her escort. However, thanks to the Lost apparently being drawn by sound the squad got pinned down and required extraction. That’s where we came in. The mission mostly went off without a hitch, though I’ll say this: Corporal Deshong, or “Doc”, is a damn trooper. He may not have been a star next to the likes of Blazkivitz and Durand, but you don’t see them queueing up for a third consecutive mission back to back. Not to mention he willingly drew the Lost to him to protect Rodgers while being unable to defend himself, carrying the one remaining (unconscious) escort on his back. Hats off to that man, truly! The mission concluded with everyone making a break for the Skyranger as the Lost poured in from all angles. It would have been epic, if it wasn’t so damn terrifying.  
I know what you’re thinking: “Harry, you said things were bad. This doesn’t sound so terrible?” Well, just let me speed through the last week. So after said mission, we went back to the cell on the East coast. While Command sat down with the cell’s leaders, the Engineering team took it upon themselves to help improve communications between the Avenger and the cell. Once we figured out how to establish a clear connection, we also passed this information along to the cell on the West coast. The guys from R &D also handed us some updated blueprints for the autopistols during this time, but we’ve sort of put that on hold for now. We’ve got work enough as it is.  
That’s especially true when Command got wind of our doings. Now it’s not to say they disliked it - why would they? - but it did get them to request a space for more fine tuned coordination with the Resistance cells and factions. Henderson was tasked with overseeing construction of what we’re officially calling a “Resistance Ring”, and construction of the tactics school still falls onto Shen. We’re supposed to get both facilities finished in 12 days. Yay… Two days later the Labrats also gave us schematics on how we’d be able to integrate the Avenger’s systems with medical equipment, allowing us to construct a more specialized infirmary than the glorified bunk we have now. I imagine Carrie will be happy, but I know it’ll mean even more construction work soon for us. Still, whatever helps the troops is fine with me. They’re the ones standing between me having to face down a Sectoid or worse myself.  
And that brings us to today… Command decided to make use of the improved comms with the Resistance to check back in with the West coast cell while we were chasing down a lead on potential recruits down South. It was during the call we picked up a global Advent transmission: The Speaker spouting rhetoric about how Advent helped the world and humanity in so many ways, and blah blah blah… But then… he started talking about how some people still “cling to the values of the old world” and how this must end. It wasn’t until we picked up a multitude of radar signatures approaching our West coast cell that we realized the horror that was about to play out before our very eyes. Thanks to the global transmission our comms went haywire, we… we couldn’t even warn them. We just had to watch how Advent sent at least a dozen troop transports to the colony and just… rained fire down upon them. Not XCOM, not Resistance fighters, just… civilians. Innocents... The elderly, mothers, children…”  
There is a noticeable pause, accompanied by nothing but deep breathing.  
“Advent are fucking monsters. Command instantly gave an executive order to move on the Western cell and prepare a squad. As I record this the troops are being briefed and the Skyranger’s being prepped. I just hope we’re not too late. If nothing else, we’ll make these bastards pay.”  
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Firebrand's personal log - March 20th 2035 (Entry #3)

Well, thank God ... No picking up Zombie corpses this time around. It all got clear once we were up in the air. God, Vancouver looked like a ghost town. Well, in this case ... Zombie City. Anyway, it was a rescue hit-and-run mission. Lots of running involved, from what I could see from above. So many Zombies dashing after our people. Our last man just grabbed hold of the rope with one of those things just inches away. Couldn't have been closer. Everybody was on board safe and sound though ... Well, one of them seemed to have an injury but hey ... better that than dead.

New scientist, debriefed and off to the good Doctor's lab. That should help speed things up with the facilities and keep Central happy for a bit. As for me, I was able to rest for quite a while, before deciding to actually hang out at the Bar with some of the recruits. I was without my helmet and my pilot suit, not even sure if they knew who I was. It actually felt nice to be among them. I didn't drink this time around ... just listened to them chat it out. Played bartender for a few minutes too. Definitely should do this more often.

Nothing on the potential Big Sky signal. It seems the Commander had other interests in mind. Some supplies, then some rookies. But ... alarm sounded again. Apparently in the middle of a transmission from a local Resistance haven. Advent bastards were hitting it. So, time to start up the Ranger ... Wheels up in five.

Firebrand out.


	5. Ep 4 - Operation Glass Rage

**Ep 4-----Operation Glass Rage-----------------------------------------------------------**  
Log: JT “Numbers” Stevens  
Date:03/28/2035  
Log entry 2

The “retaliation” mission was a failure, and things seem bleaker than ever. Our first encounter went well, with the squad quickly wiping out the first group. Then there was a pillar of purple light, psionic if the Templar is to be believed, and some kind of… monster stepped out. The templars call her “Shadowblade”, one of the “Elder’s chosen”. (I keep trying to ask about these Elders, but nobody seems to know.) regardless, it’s some kind of elite unit that has been killed before, but somehow keeps coming back. A civilian over the radio was the first one to spot her, but apparently she just… disappeared. Kohlla almost lost her cool, saying they have to bunker down and wait for her to come to them. A team across the bridge started opening fire on their position, and they scattered. She came out of nowhere, plunging her blade into Eternal’s chest. Kohlla went after her while Huntsman stabilized Eternal. An ADVENT priest trapped Eternal in some sort of psionic bubble, and he couldn’t even move. Apparently Kohlla was fighting the Assassin one-on-one, but her suit camera was blinded by some sort of grenade. Raven took out some kind of specialized ADVENT troop before he could fire on our units. The shadowblade struck down Huntsman, before diving behind cover. Raven made sure she couldn’t get away. Meanwhile we all could hear the shots in the distance as they executed civilian after civilian. Huntsman was trapped again, while the assassin blasted everybody else with some kind of energy wave. She went up to Raven as he went down, and… pulled something out of his head. Something about knowledge. It was all just mopping up after that. Apparently there was some sort of… mimic in the mess of civvies.

I keep wondering where my students are right now. At least, what remains of them. Could one of them have been one of those monsters? Or could they have just been gunned down like the rest? It turns my stomach.

Apparently in total there are three of these “Chosen” if the Assassin’s messages are to be believed.

I’ve had a few ideas on how to modify this Combat GREMLIN. Huntsman got the engineers to put a stun-plate on his so it can infiltrate enemy lines and deal some sort of damage. I’m thinking I may be able to install a modified medkit applicator with little to no weight detriment. Luckily I was able to req a full fusion torch set with no missing heads. Back in class people used to steal the heads from my set to mess with me. Jackson did it a collective 47 times in three years. That was the record, at least. Anyways, after seeing what happened to Eternal, I think this will be a boon to our forces.

They finished cutting up the Officer, and apparently the head scientist “Tygan” has a crazy idea. They want the engineering team to build an invasive hacking device that can access a commander’s chip before they fully deactivate. Meaning, when they are fresh.

We picked up a couple rookies in an abandoned city block. Could always have a few more hands.

A resistance cells just informed us of a server that is trying to scramble an ADVENT project. Apparently they noticed it before it could finish, se we’re going out to protect it. They’re calling me to the armory now.   
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Log 3: Zoey “Kohlla” Durand  
03/20/2035

\--- Pre-Mission  
Operation Glass Rage is what they’re calling it. Myself and Mr. E are being deployed against ADVENT forces making an attack against a resistance outpost. We’re not alone however, as Commander Odd has deployed two other soldiers, Darksky and Magnusson to aid us. The very thought of having to run this mission disgusts me. Not because we’re the ones who have to do it, but because this is something that no-one would have to do in the first place – protect the Innocent. They shouldn’t need protecting, because nobody should be coming after them. But you can definitely trust the Alien’s pets to sink to a level so low as this, and so I will spare far less mercy than usual in my efforts against them on this mission. ADVENT sickens me, and now they shall see firsthand just where that has landed them.  
\--- Post-Mission  
The mission was a failure, and I blame nobody but myself. I wasn’t ready for what would happen today, because I never believed the rumours. The Chosen. The Assassin. All I had ever heard of her were whispers amongst other Templar Agents. They would go out on missions, that were almost guaranteed victories in and of themselves, but then they would drop out of contact and return only weeks later, barely even able to remember their names. The moment she arrived, things started to go wrong. Magnusson went down in seconds, but it wasn’t his fault, and I don’t blame him for what happened. She got the drop on us, and blindsided him, and with a single slash he was down for the rest of the mission. This “Assassin” speaks of honour, and yet strikes from the shadows only to return to them after her attack is done? What is the honour in that?

With Magnusson fading fast, I knew I had to act, and so let my instincts take control. Much as I had during Operation Gatecrasher, I isolated myself from the group, to try and draw the attention of the Chosen, and much like before – it worked. I got down to business quickly, and began to tear away at the Assassin with a fury I have not felt in ages. Even when we were up against that ADVENT General I still had not fought with such a degree of ferocity, and that seemed to show as my attacks against the Chosen bore many of the fruits of success. The Parry technique that the Commander insisted I learn was invaluable all the same, and I fear that without it, both myself and the squad would’ve been in far direr straits. As I waged my own war against the Assassin, my allies put the heat on both her, and the remaining ADVENT forces, though the latter were far more focused on tearing through the Civilians, until none were left. Despite my hatred of those Alien pieces of scum, there was something I noticed about one of them, whom Central is now referring to as the Priest. Their psionic signature was strong, and irradiated from them with such potency that I could feel it all the way from where I fought my own battle.

It wasn’t long before things got worse however. Cloaking herself, the Assassin fled and I thought perhaps that was it. I turned my efforts towards the remaining ADVENT forces, only for the Chosen to return, and then the next few moments were but a blur. She hit us with something, a wave of psionic energy so vast it dwarfed my own. And as it struck us, I was enfeebled by its power, overwhelmed. Raven was in much the same position, but in the midst of my stupor I found the Assassin doing something to him, and I could feel her doing something to his mind. She was extracting information. And once she was done, she finally exited the battlefield.

I was furious. She speaks of honour and yet uses such cowardly tactics against us. I was fortunate enough that my own rage was enough to snap me back to the task at hand, and my newly ignited anger allowed me to carve through the ADVENT forces, with the rest of what remained of our squad aiding my efforts to do so. But it was at that moment that I learnt once again that perhaps there is truth to the many rumours that echo through the Avenger. A large creature of what seemed to be organic clay revealed itself before me, looming over my form with almost two stories-worth of height. Perhaps it expected me to be afraid, but I was far from it. Huntsman helped me to start ripping into it, and then I struck the killing blow.

As we returned from the mission, which I thought to be an unsalvageable failure, there was some hope. Commander Odd has requested that I learn a technique referred to as the “Stun Strike”. If it proves to be as useful as my newfound ability to Parry, then I will gladly make use of it. My orders now are to join a rookie, Homer Obsquros on a mission to find the “Skirmishers”, former ADVENT soldiers. I have my doubts about them given their origin, but if they are half as useful as the soldiers that I have already met here at XCOM, then they will be a fine addition to our ranks.   
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Raven’s log

Log #3 March 22, 2035:

I wished that mission went better, but I understand why the Commander is so revered by this crew. His tactics and confidence in us is what we need to take out Advent, and while we lost today we might just do it. My grenadier training paid off, and I’m growing comfortable with carrying such heavy ordinance. I don’t even know who that was that ambushed us, I knew we were walking into a trap but that was unreal. That...chosen alien, what Bradford called them, was something I have never encountered before. At one point I don’t even remember what happened, one minute I was hiding behind a shed from enemy fire and the next thing I knew the Chosen was on top of me, doing something.

Eternal was almost taken out in a single blow, I’m not sure how he survived that but he’s a badass for living. It wasn’t for Huntsman we would have lost one good soldier already. Kohlla is something out of a fairy tale. She continues to improve quicker than us and shows she can be an effective leader in combat. I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone move that aggressively against dangerous enemies. 

I feel like I failed the squad, I can do better, I can BE better. I know it. I failed to protect a place that I used to grow up in, surrounded by those people I failed to protect. Every loss was a major one, even if it is a civilian. But, I need to understand there are sacrifices in this war, and everything done is for the greater good. I feel like I’m starting to believe in the high picture, and that gives me hope.

I only hope whatever that Chosen did to me...does not come back to haunt me. I’m gonna go train with my squadmates to improve our teamwork. We can do this. One mission at a time.

Raven out.  
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Log: Cpl. Mr. (Huntsman) E  
03/28/2035  
Entry #3

Oh yeah! Feelin much better now that I'm out of the Med Bay. That Lost really packed a punch. Today I'll be heading out with Raven, Kohlla, and Eternal. Let's hope this one goes better than last time. They are calling this one Glass Rage. Whatever the hell that's supposed to mean. I just hope I can get some payback and everyone comes home alive. There are civilians out there we need to save. We can't afford to fail today. Time to fly! By the by does anyone even know who flies this bird?

{Log Closed~ Unresolved}

{Log Opened}  
(Recorded from Med Bay)

Alright, this is getting old fast. It's like every time we start to get leg up we get knocked right back on our asses. Everything started out great. A well placed grenade opened up that sectoid bastard and I put a few rounds between its bulbous eyes. I can't even begin to describe the pleasure that was after what its kin did to me. Kohlla cleaned up the trooper no problem. Then came the trouble. In the distance we could see a tower of purple energy. From it, well from it came a monster. She looked human, sort of. We engaged some Advent across a river and she came out of nothing and put her sword right into Eternal's chest. He was on the ground in an instant. There was no time to think. We reacted. I put some rounds into the one being referred to as "Shadowblade" and rushed to help Eternal while the other two moved to hunt Shadowblade. I managed to stabilize Eternal but then well....

*The Log falls silent for several moments*

Alright this is going to sound weird but I lost time. No I'm not crazy, no I am not cracking to the stress of war. There was a flash of purple and net thing I knew Raven was insight again and the enemy advent had changed positions. In the moment i didn't question it. Now though I’m a bit rattled by it. Meanwhile on the other side of the river people were screaming in agony so I moved to get a better angle on the Advent. Ya know, give them a target beside the civs. I saw Kohlla move up at the same time so I sent CML-N, that's uh my Gremlin, to aid her. She, as always, seemed to be our best shot. Well I gave someone a target alright. Shadowblade appeared in front of me and put a nasty slash up my chest before running off again. Hence me being here in medical, again. Anyways I was dazed after that kind of blow but Kohlla came and helped me to my feet before running after Shadowblade with Raven. Then it happened again. I lost time. The flash and next thing I knew the Shadowblade was absorbing something from Ravens head and Shadowblade vanished. After that it was just clean up and I was in no state to fight but I tried. The aliens had one more surprise though. Some kind of flesh golem. The egg heads, er uh I mean scientists, named it the "Faceless" but I swear it makes me think of clay golems from folklore just more gross. Oh well for now I need rest. Hope I can get back out in the field soon. 

Live well. Fight strong. Die with honor. ~The Huntsman motto~  
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\----- Avenger Medical Bay Audio Log #62 -----  
\----- RE: Connor “Eternal” Magnusson -----  
\----- 20/03/2035 -----

\---- START LOG

This is bad. It’ll be at least 4 more weeks until Magnusson gets back into fighting shape. And even then, the injuries aren’t entirely physical. Heard him talking in his sleep. Mumbling about this…’Chosen’ thing that did this to him. That encounter is haunting him in his sleep, I know it. I just hope he won’t carry that with him into later missions. It could get messy if that thing turns up again. Then again, it’s not like we can be picky about what soldiers we want to take. Our resources are just spread too thin.

I can’t get a full diagnosis until I run more tests, but he’s not in any condition for that just now. Rest and recuperation. He’s got a strong will, though. Not many would have survived a direct assault like that. I don’t even want to imagine how intimidating that Chosen was up close. I’ll need to give my thanks to Huntsman later for getting to him so quickly and stabilizing him under fire like that. If it wasn’t for him, we would already be one soldier down, and that’s just not something we can afford right now.

At the end of the day, we all knew what we’d be signing up for here. Death is a very real possibility. In fact, I’m not expecting everyone to come out of this alive. Not by any means. For now, though, Magnusson is still with us – barely. I’m sure he’ll have a few scores to settle once he gets back out there. If anyone could give them hell after a near-death experience, it wouldn’t surprise me if it was him.

END LOG ----  
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User: “Engineer Harry Preston”  
Date: “21st of March, 2035”

Entry #3:  
The log starts off with a good thirty seconds of silence, occasionally disrupted by a sigh or unidentifiable background noise. Then, Harry’s voice can be heard; but it’s not like the previous logs. It’s raspy, tired. Over the course of the first twenty seconds it becomes very clear Engineer Preston has not had a good night’s sleep.   
“This is Engineer Harry Preston, signing in. It is currently 9:47 pm, on the 21st of March 2035. It… has been a rough night. As I feared in my log yesterday we… we were too late. Command deployed a squad consisting of - now - Sergeant “Kohlla” Durand, Private “Raven” Darksky, Private “Eternal” Magnusson and Corporal “Huntsman” E. It didn’t take them too long to encounter hostiles, but as it turns out Advent are even more insidious than we imagined. The Advent forces would willingly ignore our troops to fire on civilians. Worse than that, apparently they infiltrated the civilian population beforehand with a form of shapeshifting unit. Their real form is nothing short of horrifying; a tall hulking physique, a gurgling roar, long nails straight out of a horror film, and a… “skin” that looks as if it’s perpetually melting. To make matters even more disturbing they contort their human guises in the most harrowing ways as they take on their real form. Were it not that our troops encountered something far more sinister, they would have been the dark highlight of last mission.   
It turns out however that the Elders did not take the loss of the Commander lightly. As our people over in Research so recently uncovered, the implant they retrieved from the back of our Commander’s skull patches into the Psionic network Advent utilizes to command their troops more efficiently. The Commander in particular was apparently one of the major driving forces behind Aliens’ increased military efficiency. From what we understand, the Elders processed tactical scenarios through the Commander’s mind in order to apply the solutions he came up with to their own troops. It is not difficult to see how the loss of such an asset would have significant ramifications for the stability of the Advent forces. As a result, the Elders have deployed an elite unit to track down the Avenger with the sole purpose of bringing the Commander back into the Elders’ service. And it was precisely this unit our troops encountered.   
Our sources say “she” is known as a “Chosen”. They’re Psionically gifted assassins, answering to none but the Elders directly. If our intel is correct, there’s supposed to be three of them, though so far we have only encountered the one by the name of Ref-Il Tessura. She seems to favor hit-and-run tactics, utilizing a form of Psionic cloaking to strike from the shadows with a blade the size of a man. Private Magnusson experienced what the weapon is capable of first hand. If it wasn’t for Huntsman’s quick thinking, he surely would have bled out then and there. Medical says he’ll be out for at least a month, but he’s lucky to be alive at all. The more disconcerting part however is probably how she didn’t even **try** to kill him. She tapped into our comms somehow, early into the fight. Throughout the entire Op she spoke to us. Taunted us. It was is if this was just a game to her; a serious, deadly game she played for the sake of her devotion to the Elders… but a game nonetheless. That’s the only reason I even hazard a guess at her intentions during the fight: She let us know. She let us all know. She was only there to extract as much information out of our soldiers as she could so she’s able to find the Avenger and complete her mission.   
It worked too. Between civilians dying left and right, Advent all over the colony and the Assassin stalking our troops, she found an opening in the Commander’s formation. With an Advent Priest holding down Huntsman; she debilitated Durand guarding an unconscious Magnusson, and Darksky in one psionically charged blow. The few seconds to get back on their feet was all she required to make it to Darksky and… I don’t even know how to say this… “Reach his mind”. It’s hard to say precisely what she did, but either way it left her satisfied and she retreated from the battle immediately after. I have a feeling we’ll see her again real soon though.   
I think that’s all I have in me tonight. As you can probably tell, I… didn’t sleep very well. I may not be a religious man, or indeed a believer at all, but I pray for those people. They did not deserve to die like that. No one deserves to die like that. If nothing else, I hope we may honor their memory in the coming months, or die trying. I hope we end this alien menace tormenting our world and… I hope I’ll be around for long enough to see it. 

Engineer Harry Preston, signing off.”   
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Firebrand's personal log - March 28th 2035 (Entry #4)

Brutal and painful to listen. That was how the mission sounded like over the audio feed. And that bitch ... Maybe I should ask Central to fit some weapons on the Ranger so I can shoot that witch in the face next time she shows up. We almost had our first casualty. Retaliation was definitely not a success. Except for the fact that we got everybody back alive. All because of ... Her.

Our Templar (which was exemplary again in that mission) was sent off to make contact with former Advent soldiers, now a Resistance faction. I'm honestly not sure how they could be trusted, considering what they used to be. But I guess you cannot really be too picky. If they help us get Earth back, I won't care. I really won't.

I kept myself busy around the Ranger for the past week. I didn't feel like going off to ask how the wounded were doing. Especially the one called Eternal. It sounded like a terrible idea. I just asked the good Doctor instead. He said that Eternal was lucky that he got stabilized so quickly. Only out for a month. Only, key word here. Damnit.

Mission alert sounding. Time to prepare for take-off.

Firebrand out.

P.S. Seriously ... the Skyranger could use some weapons  
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DISPLAY LOG (ROV-R)  
<1427:19 20.03.2035> begin PML-004  
<1427:20 20.03.2035> CAMERA: RECORDING…  
REQUESTING URGENT MEDICAL ASSISTANCE for SQ. CONNOR ‘ETERNAL’ MAGNUSSON  
Location: SKYRANGER HELIPAD  
<1433:12 20.03.2035> Initializing post-mission scan…  
<1435:26 20.03.2035> Scan failed.  
<1435:31 20.03.2035> Initializing post-mission scan…  
<1436:55 20.03.2035> Scan failed.  
<1443:57 20.03.2035> CAMERA: OFF  
<1444:01 20.03.2035> Saving ‘video001.avi’…  
(The video clip begins with the back of Chief Engineer Lily Shen’s head and left shoulder blocking most of the GREMLIN’s field of view. There is a glowing monitor in front of her. ROV-R shifts sideways and focuses its camera on the screen; which shows a live video feed of the Skyranger extracting four bloodied soldiers and five civilians. Sq. Connor Magnusson appears heavily wounded.   
ROV-R turns and flies away from Shen. It travels down a corridor on the Avenger, encountering first responders running up the staircase at the end carrying medical supplies and stretchers. Some of the group glance at ROV-R in surprise but do not stop running. The GREMLIN accompanies them to the helipad. The Skyranger VTOL craft is not present.  
A further four minutes elapse before the Skyranger arrives and its ramp is lowered. The crowd on the helipad blocks much of ROV-R’s view again, so it circles around and attempts to scan Sq. Connor Magnusson, Cpl. E, Cpl. Zoey Durand and Sq. Pagenn Darksky from behind by moving backwards into the Skyranger’s passenger bay. At this point, one of the rescued Resistance members, unaware of ROV-R’s existence at the time, closes the bay doors behind him. The video cuts to black as the GREMLIN is trapped in darkness. Then the recording stops.)  
<1447:37 20.03.2035> !Ping: Administrator LILY SHEN  
<1447:38 20.03.2035> Play: Back off Bitch - Guns N’ Roses  
<1452:42 20.03.2035> !Ping: Administrator LILY SHEN  
<1447:40 20.03.2035> Play: Dead Wrong – Biggie “The Notorious B.I.G.” ft. Eminem  
<1452:41 20.03.2035> !Ping: Administrator LILY SHEN  
<1452:42 20.03.2035> Play: Here Comes Revenge – Metallica  
<1453:31 20.03.2035> Stop: Here Comes Revenge – Metallica  
Good afternoon, Administrator LILY SHEN  
<1453:35 20.03.2035> #Soldiers 4/4, #Resistance 5/0  
(Analysts have noted that ROV-R’s fourth log shows a notable discrepancy. Emergency responders were summoned and an accurate headcount of survivors was presented despite ROV-R’s failure to complete a post-mission scan.)  
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War recount 1

Alright Bradford has assigned me to record progress of this war since our recent failure. I guess I should introduce myself, I am Jebediah Primm local refugee here on this ship or plane, whatever it's classified as. I was a "aspiring" writer before the war, also known as not having a job. I've been on the ship doing manual labor for a while now until said failure where Bradford gave me this job. So better get to it then. On a mission to retaliate to attacks on a refugee camp by Advent which they are calling a retaliation (real original) a lot of stuff went bad. Civilians were being killed left and right and Advent was trading shots with our people until something that the "Templar" as we call her says is a "Chosen" arrived. That's about when you know what hit the fan. People were going unconscious then conscious, hurt to fine, needless to say it was weird. Then it threw or controlled something purple sending it like a wave to our people. It then "extracted" as Bradford and Commander Odd put it knowledge. After that it left, just like that, gone. After a little more fighting a "mimic" as everyone's taking to calling it arrived revealing a weapon of Advents, a spy kinda. Everyone's on edge from the loss, the radio guy was informed to send out a radio message all over. The guys nothing if optimistic, kinda annoying but it helps everyone who's not a realist. I'm done now, still on edge from the mimic, for all we know anyone could be one, the janitor, the cafeteria lady, me.  
Signing out now  
Jebediah Primm


	6. Ep 5 - Operation Rebel Fog

**Ep 5-----Operation Rebel Fog-------------------------------------------------------------**  
Log: JT “Numbers” Stevens  
Date:04/04/2035  
Log entry 3

(the sounds of a fusion torch can be heard, with a thumping beat laced in the back.)

We dropped in on Operation Rebel Fog into an underground metro tunnel. CNR-Y stayed close to me, whistling softly. I’ve noticed that she… it does this normally, making more noises than most GREMLINS. I’ll talk about that later though. Raven pressed forward first, spotting a troop in green armor, what we later learned was ADVENT’s experimental bio-weapons division. I slipped forward, opening the train’s doors to give us a better look. THey inched around, but luckily they didn’t see me or CNR-Y. I opened fire on the trooper, counting out ten of my thirty rounds. Everybody opened fire on the captain, but only Raven got a proper hit off. He flanked us, and let loose a burst on BJ. He pulled back and took a shot with his pistol, and Doc and I tore out a wall he was hidden behind. Raven ended him with a grenade. BJ treated his wounds. We pressed forward, spotting the Scrambler and a squad of ADVENT. Raven opened the show with his grenade launcher, putting some serious hurt on them while Doc gave him covering fire. BJ and I shot at a sectoid before it blasted him with psionic energy. I tried to send CNR-Y to help him out, but it didn’t seem to understand the hand signals I was giving it. Doc fired his launcher. I calculated a better angle, and took out the bleeding Sectoid. Billy ended the trooper with his revolver. He’s getting handy with that thing. The ADVENT wrecker that remained tried to get one last shot off before Raven gunned him down. We spotted another group, this one with some kind of ADVENT sniper unit, but Raven didn’t give him a chance to use that rifle. Doc pumped his second shell into the Sectoid and trooper, giving BJ the window he needed. I lined up a shot, and the last trooper went down. We took a picture, with some ridiculous tagline about us being a full-male squad. I earned a promotion as well!

The techs helped me install a stun-plate on CNR-Y, but they left me to integrate it into he- it’s systems. I’m getting a look inside this thing and… it’s fascinating, don’t get me wrong, Raymond Shen was a genius but… there’s something different than the specs would say. Instead of a normal camera analytics board in its compliance slot, it’s instead taken up by a board I am unfamiliar with, as well as a more advanced speaker and mic system. I brought it up with Shen and she said her previous owner made some kind of modifications, but never documented them. Well… i guess that leaves me with a mystery. Can’t wait to look into this thing!

The GTS is finally up in operation, and our first rookie is in as a ranger. A brutal man with the callsign “Rumble”. We’ve also trained in larger team tactics. The Ring also went up, so we can more efficiently perform covert actions.

Resistance radio finally finished up, and the tech team broke through in analysing the Alien materials. They’re sent designs for a ballistic vest of some description that, if I read this right, might just be a good first leg up. Then they started working on Magnetic-drive weapons that could be the start of something great. I’m helping them do calculations when available.

We just received a tip on an ADVENT supply store out in the boonies. I’m being called into the Armory, so I’m sealing up CNR-Y. There you are girl, wake up! Now, let’s test this new stun plate. Hey BJ, come over here!.  
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Firebrand's personal log - April 4th 2035 (Entry #5)

That mission ... That started off weirdly. I mean there were four men. Looked competent enough. And then I heard over the audio feed how the shots went missing like crazy. With the risk of being told off by the Commander and Central, I bugged in over the feed and muttered something like: "Even I can shoot better than that, boys. Step it up!" Yes, Central didn't seem terribly pleased with that. But the squad did pick up the pace after that and started getting their shots in and finished the mission rather rapidly.

I got told off again when I returned but hey ... sometimes the squad needs a little morale boost. Even if it is done in a rather unorthodox way. Nonetheless, I promised Central to just listen to the feed from now on, without interfering. But I also got some nice words from Shen ... It seemed she got a kick out of my interference play. Keep it up, she said. Yeah, well ... maybe. After all, I don't think Central has anybody else that knows how to properly fly the Skyranger. I don't know ... Maybe I shouldn't take chances.

Then it all went wonky in Engineering. Somebody seemed to hack Rover and systems went haywire around the ship. What the hell? Skyranger seemed unaffected by it but ... yeah ... weird stuff that. It will require some investigation.

Anyway ... Mission time. Time to haul another squad away. Oh hey ... seems this one has a female rookie on it. Maybe she can shoot better than the guys.

Firebrand out.  
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Raven’s log

Post-Mission Log #4, March 23rd 2035:

That was a win. A good win. Our training is paying off, and I got promoted once more. The Commander instructed me how to rip armor from our enemies, making it easier for my squadmates to get in some good shots on those aliens. Luckily that Chosen didn’t come back to fight us again, we were able to quickly complete the mission and overall learned a lot about the enemy. I can’t say anything but good things at the moment, only hope that we continue to win. I’m enjoying it, and enjoying my new friendship with my squadmate Connor. Both of us are in the same division so it’s awesome we got to out on a mission. It worked out much better than some expected!  
Gonna get some R&R for a few days, and then back to training and improving. It’s a start, and hope it continues to go up from here.

Raven out.  
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Log: Mr. (Huntsman)E   
04/02/2035  
Entry #4

Live well. Fight strong. Die with honor. ~Huntsman motto~

(In recovery)

Alright! Things are looking good today. I heard word about the last mission and from the sounds of it all went well. Billy joined us in the Med Bay for a couple of hours but he seemed fine after that! Way to go out there! Meanwhile I've just been doing some exercises to get my full range of motion back. It's been pretty quiet otherwise. I know the staff probably wants me in the Med Bay for the entirety of my recovery but same it all I needed a change of scenery. So here I am at the bar! Sadly I could only get one drink before the staff found me and gave me the old tsk tsk lecture. I fight ALIENS for a living. I think a drink or two with some pain meds is the least of my worries.

*There is a small chuckle and then a deep sigh*

Honestly though I have been so busy until now that I hadn't really taken the time to think about my son, Adam. I know I have zero memory from his childhood but he was my son. Bradford put him down and saved my life. Shouldn't I feel something more? I mean all I really feel is hatred for the so called Elders and their brood. They turned my son and are the reason for my memory loss. Shouldn't I be mad at Bradford? Instead I'm thankful for the chance to repay him. Shouldn't I be sad about Adam’s death? Instead I'm glad he's gone and the aliens have one less resource. Despite all that it nags at the back of my mind that if the others find out about my son's past will the trust me? Can I blame them if they don't?

I know putting this into the records may mean word spreads faster about my son but it weighs heavy on an old man with no one left and nowhere left to go. I feel as though I have a chance to finally make a difference here. All I know, all my memory is killing aliens. Heck even after my old XCOM uniform gave out I kept the patch. XCOM is my family now. Anyways I've gone on about this for far to long. Time to get back to recovering and get back out there where I belong.

Huntsman out.  
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Journal Entry 3#   
Name: Will 'Billy-Terror' Blazkivitz   
Date: 28th March 2035   
Operation: Rebel Fog 

Skulking around in tunnels, nothing new to me but never the best for a sniper unless you can funnel your targets into a kill zone. Still, an ops an op and we had a mission to do. 

We encountered some special ADVENT task force, they look as if there were ready for radiation or such crap. Most likely patrolling tunnels to clean up those freaks call the Lost... The trooper went down easily but their Captain clipped me, just a flesh wound though so a little field medic work on myself and we pressed on. 

Found a second group, couple troopers it looked like and a skinny arse Sectoid. Troopers focused on suppressing fire us even though one bomb boy sent a present right at their feet. The Alien bastard tried to get into my mind, resisted him but I can't recall what happened next as my mind went blank and instinct took over to take cover... 

One of my teammates took out the Alien and my mind came back to me, seems they have minor connections to your head even if they fail. Well while I would've loved to send that freak to hell at least I got to send his friend packing with a shot to his dome with my trusty pistol. Nothing but skill. 

As soon as we finished the second group we found the last hiding behind the objective. one bomb boy flanked their ADVENT sniper while the other flushed out another alien and ADVENT trooper. I took a bit of personal satisfaction I must admit as I aimed right at the Alien freak's head and it's brains splattered the floor, want something done right then do it yourself they say. The tech guy took advantage and rushed up to grab the last kill, area secure and objective secured so it was time to bug out of those tunnels. 

Tried to avoid the medical check but the guys wouldn't let me have it my way saying they couldn't let part of Bro-Town risk being down or the count. Bro-Town sounded completely stupid but I guess they're starting to like me around here and they weren't too bad... Still, we have a war to go on and I'm ready for the next mission.   
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DISPLAY LOG (ROV-R)  
<0234:29 28.03.2035> begin PML-005  
<0234:31 28.03.2035> Post-mission scan updated with ‘FACELESS’ enemy class exclusion protocol  
<0235:40 28.03.2035> Initializing post-mission scan  
<0235:51 28.03.2035> #Soldiers = 4/4  
<0236:54 28.03.2035> Medical alert: Perforative trauma (gunshot)  
CPL. WILL ‘BILLYTERROR’ BLAZKIVITZ

PLEASE REPORT TO THE MEDICAL BAY IMMEDIATELY  
CPL. PAGENN ‘RAVEN’ DARKSKY  
CPL. JT ‘NUMBERS’ STEVENS

CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR PROMOTIONS  
<0238:26 28.03.2035> Inventory upd04e#44*$%2*..!ERRORgdbnh f;i#$&()#>”82**_  
ROV-R HAS DETECTED AN UNAUTHORIZED USER  
<0238:30 28.03.2035> Transferring files…  
SHUTTING DOWN

<0300:09 28.03.2035> Starting ROV-R…  
<0300:14 28.03.2035> INCOMING TRANSMISSION  
Good morning, Creator RAYMOND SHEN  
It has been >{error - account marked MIA} days since your last activity  
WARNING: Possible security breach detected; attempting to close remote connection  
…  
<0311:56 28.03.2035>Command re-established  
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War recount 2

Alright this is war recount número two and really everything went well. Besides the massive amount of missed shots in the beginning of the op which all the soldiers state was them toying with Advent, especially that numbers guy who blew out the cover and said it was all part of a plan listen the guys smart but he ain't that smart. A few fights later in which many grenades were used (pretty sure we're running low now) the mission was a success, two buildings were finished construction, training of soldiers is beginning, and one extra person is going out on the missions now (don't know why we couldn't do that before but hey I'm not in charge). We are all worried though since apparently the next mission will be in that assassins territory she chose for herself and two rookies are going along. Commander Odd seems capable but he's worried I can see it, but the man's got guts we can only hope he has the brains to back it up. Signing out now  
Jebediah Primm


	7. Ep 6 - Operation Death Song

**Ep 6-----Operation Death Song-----------------------------------------------------------**  
Log: JT “Numbers” Stevens  
Date:04/13/2035  
Log entry 4

We touched down in silence. The commander insisted the Squaddie Admiral took point, marking out a pretty normal ADVENT squad, barring a Stun lancer and what looked like a heavier Priest unit. I think we’re calling it a warlock? They were walking right next to my hiding spot, seven feet behind me if I was counting their footsteps properly. I tossed my grenade, hitting all 3. Iron-wolf took out the Lancer before he could get to cover. Kebab sprinted up to the Warlock and gunned him down, just leaving the trooper. Admiral took him down when he tried to run. Admiral spotted something… different. Like some sort of fleshy pods. I think we’re called them Celatids? I think they put us all off our game at first, since we were all missing our shots.then they… spat some sort of acidic substance on Kebab. It seriously messed him up. Luckily Iron-wolf could patch him up. I told CNR-Y to cover BJ, but she still seemed like she was… confused? Then two of those grubs came right on top of me. One released some sort of… gas? Nothing happened, that’s all I know. Kebab took his revenge on one. Our marksmen lit up the second, but it didn’t go down. Then CNR-Y snuck up and zapped it, blasting open the casing of it’s “chair”. I saw an E-core, so I yanked it out. I tried to move up and fire on the last, but it moved at the last second. Everybody else lit it up, no problem. While those things held us up, ADVENT airlifted out more and more crates. Things were tense as we approached the final building. But then Central noted all containers were accounted for, so we decided to pull out.

It’s nice to see the Rookies proving themselves. Kebab’s a grenadier, and Admiral is a spec.

I’m trying to req myself a damaged GREMLIN motherboard I can cannibalise. As it is now, I can’t access CNR-Y’s memory core or analyse the functionality of that custom compliance board. All i can do is speculate. 

We found the Skirmishers. Some kind of ADVENT splinter faction that rejects the Elders. One of their specs came in. Some people don’t like her, but i can tell she’s different. The way she walks, the length of her strides. All the normal ADVENT have almost identical steps every single time, but she’s fluid. More human. Unrestrained. To paraphrase something an old teacher told me: “I for one welcome our new alien compatriots.”

We started constructing an Infirmary. Better than our injured just laying around in the off-shoot room in the barracks.

The Skirmishers just called in a mission. A human engineer under their protection was separated from their escort while underground. I’ll go to the rec room to check out the feeds!  
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Journal Entry 4#   
Name: Will 'Billy-Terror' Blazkivitz   
Date: 4th April 2035   
Operation: Death Song 

Honestly, is it Central that comes up with these cheesy names or there someone behind the scene picking them? Reminds me of those cheesy one-liners on those B-movie scripts... Still, more standard op this time. Recon supply raid, good old smash and grab. Though with the aliens and ADVENT expect crazy shit and this time we really found it today. 

After setting up on the high ground with another Sniper, Numbers our tech took point while also babysitting the rookies before opening up with a pineapple surprise on the first group we scouted. Iron-Wolf proved he had talent as a fellow sniper taking out the Lancer, Kebab flanked the weird looking purple ADVENT before unloading on its face but neither Addy (I refused to address her as Admiral until she 'earned' that rite.) nor I could get a clear shot on the last guy. So instead of going for the kill, I aimed to flush him out, the Trooper reacted poorly as my shot zipped passed his skull allowing Addy to get a clean kill. 

Now it was time to grab boxes and ADVENT knew this, activating beacons on crates as we tried to tag them. In the scramble, the group met with a surprise. I thought freaking Zombies were bad enough but the Alien sure took the cake this time. We found three things that resembled giant hovering stomachs that hissed at you. Bastard things were hard to hit as they jittered around and I had no clear idea what spot to hit was effective. Kebab had a taste of what they could do though, sons of bitches spat acid globs and farted out poisonous gas. Luckily while we had a hard time hitting them they too had the aim of some drunk trying to piss in bowl of a toilet, that and Iron-Wolf helping Kebab patch up his acid wounds so he could help us out killing these bastards. 

These things weren't too dangerous but were a big enough distraction to let ADVENT grab a majority of the crates, once we finally killed these suckers with quite a rounds to whatever these freaks had to make sure we barely had enough crates to grab for ourselves. With what we got we called for Evac and bugged out. Mission successful as far as I'm concerned we got some goods and got out. Next time though, I'll be ready for them weird hovering freaks.   
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Firebrand's personal log - April 12th 2035 (Entry #6)

As it turns out, I was on supply pick-up duty this mission. The squad would tag the crates and I'd just fish them out of the AO, while avoiding that ADVENT supply transport. Not sure how harmful these things are, so I chose to keep my baby away from them. At one of the passes above the AO, I spotted something rather weird there ... some sort of floating puddings. I can't really figure out how else to call them. Apparently they're called Celatids. Close enough to Gelatines. Anyway ... rough time with the shots again ... Do I really have to go to the shooting range with these guys and teach them how to operate the weapons properly?

Although I'm not sure they'd take me too seriously. Who would? I'm just a rather good-looking woman in the military who happens to know how to fly a VTOL and handle rifles. And drag corpses around. They'd probably just hit on me faster than they'd hit the targets. I don't know. Maybe I should speak to Central about this.

We got our Skirmisher representative on board. A ... Lady Skirmisher. I must say I find that intriguing. I should definitely try and have a chat with her. Her and Durand. Maybe a little girls' night out at the hangar. If they're interested in such a thing.

Speaking of Skirmishers, they requested a little extraction operation. And Noaxa, our own Skirmisher, is coming to assist. Hopefully there won't be any Floating Gelatines in this one. Apparently they spit acid. Nasty shit.

The Ranger is ready for take-off. Let's go, people. Time's a wasting.

Firebrand out.  
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Raven’s log

Log #5, April 12, 2035:

Looks like I get an extended R&R, I was ready to go but was told to have a longer break so I don’t wear out too quickly. I’ll agree to that, this allows me to help out around the Avenger and get to know everyone. On top of that, I’ve asked for assistance on a particular group of advent I’ve been looking for. I’m gonna find them, and when I do there will be hell to pay. Those damn death squads that rolled into my dad’s hideout and took out everyone, no question. I had no idea what happened until after the mission was done. It still replays over in my mind everyday, something told me to not access the network, but I didn’t listen. I had to get the information I was ordered to collect. I didn’t know about the repercussions that stemmed from it, nor did I want to know. Was the information worth it? Did it really do that much to cost so many their lives for the cause? 

I guess in the end it lead me here, to XCOM. I’m making an impact and one day I want to live in a free world, one free of alien oppression.  
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DISPLAY LOG (ROV-R)  
<0559:39 04.04.2035> begin PML-006  
<0559:44 04.04.2035> Initializing post-mission scan…  
<0559:50 04.04.2035> #Soldiers = 5/5  
<0600:03 04.04.2035> Medical alert: Chemical burns  
SQ. STEPAN ‘KEBAB’ EVTUSHENKO   
PLEASE REPORT TO THE MEDICAL BAY IMMEDIATELY  
SQ. JENNY ‘THE ADMIRAL’ FLEET  
SQ. STEPAN ‘KEBAB’ EVTUSHENKO

CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR PROMOTIONS  
<0601:33 04.04.2035> Inventory update: + Supplies  
<0601:43 04.04.2035> Play: Acid Rain – Lorn

<1754:18 04.04.2035> Initializing covert operative scan  
<1754:25 04.04.2035> #Soldiers = !VALUE/2  
Error: Non-integer value not allowed  
WARNING: ADVENT enemy class detected at BARRACKS  
Alive: !VALUE  
Dead: 0  
Error: Non-integer value not allowed  
<1754:53 04.04.2035> Initiating evasive maneuvers…  
Good evening, Administrator LILY SHEN  
<1758:35 04.04.2035> WARNING cancelled  
<1759:51 04.04.2035> IFF class definitions updated: ‘SKIRMISHER’ excluded from ‘ADVENT’ enemy class  
<1800:02 04.04.2035> Avenger HR directory updated to include ‘SKIRMISHER’ ally class  
<1800:06 04.04.2035> SQ. NATALYA ‘CHILL’ WINTERMORGON added to roster.  
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War recount number 3

Alright here we go today's mission was a success more or less, I mean no one was gravely injured besides mild (yeah mild) acid burns. Although that kebab guy looked messed up from them, the adrenaline must've been the only thing keeping him going. The Avenger only came back with a few crates nothing that'll do wonders. A lot of missed shots due to some thing apparently called Celatids, don't know who named those or why but I get why they most of the shots missed I sure wouldn't have wanted to touch those things with a twelve foot pool (extra two feet just in case). In other news those baseball cards for all the soldiers have been doing well. Since I see Bradford on a normal basis I've been able get them before everyone else meaning I've got the biggest collection. Singing out  
Jebediah Primm


	8. Ep 7 - Operation Knife Song

**Ep 7-----Operation Knife Song------------------------------------------------------------**  
Log: JT “Numbers” Stevens  
Date:04/18/2035  
Log entry 5

Big news, all around this mission. Almost everybody earned a promotion (i'm starting to believe titles don’t mean much in XCOM) this time. We saw more of those “Celatids” again, and some kind of ADVENT gunner. Had what looked like a version of our Cannon. I think the official name is a Gatling trooper? Still, I’d say that Chill earned her place here. Her style of combat is downright… brutal. Still, she was a team player. It looked like a stun lancer was heading for Rumble, but she drew it’s attention and got it to hit her instead. BJ helped her out almost immediately. Rumble also showed his merit, hitting shots with his Shotgun like it was nobody's business. Still, a solid mission. Extraction was pulled off just before they were overrun by ADVENT personnel. Another Engineer on the team.

Huntsman helped me recover a heavily damaged construction GREMLIN from an accident in the room clearing. Like I thought, all GREMLIN motherboards are universal, and the construction GrEMLIN never sent up it’s maintenance beacon because it was beyond repair. With shen’s permission, I’m cannibalizing it’s motherboard into an analyst board. It’s a bit of work, making sure it won’t short circuit.

(whistling can be heard)

I can’t wait to figure out what sh… it’s saying. And why it’s having such a hard time understanding me.

Kohlla and BJ are going into some kind of team-building exercise set up by the Skirmishers. It’s a shame to have them out, they’re our heavy hitters. 

We’ve caught wind of an ADVENT server trying to budge in on our communication frequencies. If it can access the frequency, we’ll have to rely on analog communication till we circulate a new frequency. Odd has two lined up Techs to try and remote access the Server. Hpe it goes well for them. Numbers and CNR-Y out.

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Journal Entry #1  
Name: Diego 'Rumble' Ramirez  
Date: 12th April 2035  
Operation: Knife Song

What the hell is with these 'required' journal entries? The Cartel never had me write down proof that I had left the bodies of our enemies lying in pools of blood. That would have just been evidence! But whatever, rules is rules and all..  
I was pumped to finally get orders to suit up and report for the mission briefing. Everyone was a bit skeptical to be heading into some tunnels for what could only be a trap and the grumblings of actually having one of Advent's own going with us. Bradford shut down all talk of that trash and said to "lace up your boots, get your asses in there and bring back the mark!"  
I was even more sketched on the flight in as the vets were taking bets on if any of us squaddies would 'pull a Batch' and kill the rest of the team...I kept my eyes on Chill wondering if the earlier grumblings had any clout.  
All doubts about my crew were squashed as soon the lead starting flying. These cats were here to slay alien scum and weren't wasting time about it. One Advent got lucky and shanked Chill with some crazy stun lance but BJ doused her with meds and homegirl was back in the game.   
We found the target, some soft blue collar type; not far away and quickly surrounded her in position to fend off what seemed like a steady stream of troopers dropping in on us. Those damn ayys didn't stand a chance as the crew was on point and landing every shot we took.  
We evac’ed out with the mark in tow and it was all hand shakes and bragging on the ride home.  
I guess I impressed the commander cuz I got the call for the next OP already. Time to oil up my shotty which the squad has been calling 'Downtown' for some reason. Crazy bunch here for sure.  
Rumble out

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Firebrand's personal log - April 18th 2035 (Entry #7)

Seems our Lady Skirmisher had a different name. Must've been a cover name file that was issued at the start. Real name: Wintermorgon, callsign Chill. Pretty damn cool, if you ask me. Anyway, we went off to secure an engineer. I got separated from the squad pretty much from the start, since the whole thing was underground and all that, which left me having to find a proper extraction point. Still, I continued to listen to the audio feed, monitoring their progress.

Soon enough, they reached the engineer. However, things went all crazy all of a sudden, with ADVENT dropping in like bees to the honey. Unfortunately for them, the honey was fighting back and they were being superb about it too. ADVENT pods were pretty much cleared out as soon as they were touching ground. I finally found an opening and let Central know about it. The squad got on board without much fuss, engineer and all, and we were off. Smooth sailing ... If you ignore the fact that Wintermorgon had gotten injured.

So much for the girls' night out. Especially with Kohlla heading out on a covert op with the Skirmishers. Guess the drinks will have to wait.

But hey, good news. Made contact with Eastern US. Took the Skyranger out for the initial meet and greet, then headed back in. Then some maintenance for a couple days, a brief incognito visit to the barracks to see how Chill was doing. Still out for about two weeks or so. Recovering well nonetheless.

Mission time. Apparently, it's in the neighborhood. Hacking a device in an ADVENT facility. All-male squad again. Yeah, this might pose some issues. Hey, I'm being optimistic here.

Firebrand out.  
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Log 4: Zoey “Kohlla” Durand  
04/13/2035

\--- Pre-mission:  
I returned from my cover mission to meet the Skirmishers a few days back, and I’m only writing this now because I’m getting ready for the next op. I’m not surprised that the Commander sent me to meet the Skirmirshers, mostly because I was in their position not too long ago. In a way it was funny. Betos looked at me with the same confused expression that Geist offered to Odd’s messenger, and her face matched Geist’s once again as she shook on the deal - it was a look of pride and hope. She’s sent an operative to join XCOM, so that she can gauge our effectiveness. And so far, I think it’s worked, given that Betos has already called in a favour, one that I’m setting out to repay now. The others think that this might be a trap, after all it is the perfect set-up. Lure us into an infected city centre for the Skirmishers, whilst one stands at our side - potentially ready to shoot us in the back if the time came. I however, don’t see them to be that shallow. Perhaps I’m biased, but the ten days I spent looking for and then meeting these guys certainly allows me to be. I just hope that I’m not wrong.

Speaking of the Skirmishers, it seems their agent brought some gifts with them. Commander Odd has already requested that I take some of their armour and graft it to my Templar gear in the hopes it will make me more combat effective. I left rough designs with the Engineering team, and whilst I’m not that technologically minded, having to forge and construct my own Shard Gauntlets has certainly gave me an insight into needed to be included in my new armour. Hopefully it will be useful for the upcoming mission.  
\--- Post-Mission  
Operation Knife Song was quite the mission. Early on we came face to face with these… creatures, that I don’t know how best to describe. They were almost like piles of flesh, floating in small hoverchairs. Either way, the Avenger staff have taken to calling them Celatids, and they say that they were first encountered during one of the missions whilst I was away on my covert operation. I still don’t know what to think of them, but from the reports, I’m glad we took them down when we did. Though unluckily for me, meeting these aliens means that I now have to file another report for Geist to update his intel.

From there, the mission was fairly simple. We came across a Sectoid and it’s ADVENT slaves, though they lasted about as long as the Celatids. Odd tasked me with taking down the Sectoid, and I’m glad that he requested I take the necessary training to enhance my reflexes enough that I am able to activate my Shard Gauntlets and make an attack in the few, brief moments that an enemy passes by me. Suffice to say that Sectoid didn’t make it out in one piece. Instead, he came out in several. We rescued the VIP, but got pinned down by some ADVENT troops. That, much like many of the other engagements we had during the op, didn’t last long either, especially thanks to this new soldier that Odd deployed today. He calls himself “Rumble”, and in my book, he’s earned that nickname. He definitely helped us out with his sharpshooting shotgun skills there. 

We’re back at base now, and the Commander has finally decided to give myself and Blazkivitz the necessary training to operate as a duo. Because of this, I’m going back out on another covert op, this time to aid Geist - something which I’m always happy to do. I’m putting my armour on as I type this, and speaking of, this new gear has definitely been a help. I think I’ll keep it, for now at least.   
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Journal Entry 5#   
Name: Will 'Billy-Terror' Blazkivitz  
Date: 12th April 2035  
Operation: Knife Song

More tunnels, honestly wonder if Central had a thing for sending me into sewers for slightly disobeying protocol. Sometimes a Soldier got to just follow their instinct and this time there were ablaze. The newest addition to the team the Skirmisher was on board but I was watching her. Under that armour, she looked no different than one of those hybrid freaks so I kept an eye on her. After this Op, we'll see if she's worth any sort of trust on this rescue Op.

We located more of those floating stomachs, Central called them Celetids, well this time we were ready. We went in heavy and hard as we pulled those hovering freaks full of lead. One tried to spit at me but their aim was worse than a one-eyed drunk threading a needle. We cleared them up and moved on towards our objective.

The squad heard something and we set up shop just down a tunnel, instinct paid off as we got the drop on some ADVENT and a Sectoid. Only to see my entire team perform a perfect replication of the aim of those alien stomachs we dispatched, I almost facepalmed from my sniper's perch. The enemy ran into cover unscathed, things just had to get harder when 'we' get the drop on them. Luckily, Kohlla was on the scene and charged the Sectoid, I swear she the only constant competent one on this team, other than myself of course and I certainly proved that today. I showed the squad how it's done by taking am where one trooper took full cover and locked on to a weak point in said cover, my shot flew true as it blasted a hole in the wall and disemboweled the trooper behind it. Rebel pushed up being all courageous after my display of getting things done while Addy played support for him in the back. The Skirmisher held back but her posture seemed more... like she was taunting the last ADVENT alive in sight. Well it worked as the Lancer charged past Kohlla and Rebel right at the Skirmisher even though she returned fire hitting her mark. Guess the ADVENT and Skirmishers really hate one another as said Lancer hit her with the stun Prod. Rebel finished off the Lancer and the Skirmisher seemed wounded. Hybrid or not, I don't let a soldier die if I can help it, I jumped down and pulled out the first aid kit before proceeding to patch up her wounds, I simply said "Same to you, stay alive." Before turning away watching if anyone had heard our commotion. I could just spy Kollha smiling in the corner of my eye given my 'protest' of Skirmishers back on the Avenger before this mission. 

We pushed up and found the doctor, we radioed in EVAC and had to hold ground as ADVENT piled in as a response. It was like shooting fish in a barrel, they kept dropping in and the squad would mow them down as soon as they touched down. Especially Rebel using a shotgun in an environment where close quarters mattered. EVAC came in and we piled in shooting up the place, I left after giving one ADVENT a lead flavoured leg wound and that was it. Mission complete, no rest for the wicked though. Barely get a chance to step into the bar before being 'personally requested' for 'social bonding training'. Here's hoping whoever I'm lumped in with can shoot for shit at least.  
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Log: Mr. "Huntsman" E  
04/12/2035  
Entry #5

Live well. Fight strong. Die with honor. ~Huntsman motto~

So I've decided to keep busy the last several days and learn some more about my new pal CML-N. I have been intense study and have mostly stuck to secluded areas of the Avenger. I have made some interesting discoveries. I think CML-N is special. Actually now that I think about it I think most GREMLINS are. They seem to have quirks and, well like a language all their own. I have found alien hardware integrated into CML-N and I find it quite fascinating. He seems to have some functions that other GREMLIN do not. I found a cloaking feature. I don't know what this little guy was used for before coming to my care but I can appreciate him. Oh and just so we are clear CML-N is a him not an it. I think he understands more than we know. I think they all do. Anyways unfortunately while testing the cloaking system something gave out in the little guy and the function ceases to be useful. I can't fix it. However I have noticed a few other things. CML-N seems to run more quietly than other GREMLINS he also has a built in camera with night vision. If I had him back when I was taking out Advent with pitfalls and wooden stakes he would have been very helpful.

I've started to come up with a theory but it's just a theory. I think CML-N was given to me on purpose. I think he was chosen to be my companion because of my past skill sets. I think Lily is reading up on us and selectively choosing which GREMLIN to give to which soldier. If not her then I think it may be ROV-R. Maybe a crazy thought but have you seen Lily Shen interact with ROV-R? They are more than just machines. I need another opinion on this but I need to trust someone first. If what I believe is true then I definitely don't want to lose CML-N. Maybe I'll get to know Numbers a bit better and see where he stands on all this. I'm not really comfortable bringing this up with Shen yet. 

Regardless this required further study. I need to make sure to encrypt this log. I'm going to keep this close to the vest for now. Maybe spending so much of my life alone has made me paranoid but better safe than sorry. 

One last thing I want to talk about today. Skirmishers. These are Advent soldiers gone rouge. Truth be told I'm in a unique state of mind with this. My son was a traitor. This naturally makes me despise traitors. However, it also puts me in a position to believe them. Traitors are a part of war. If we are to believe that what we do is just and the aliens are evil then we have to adjust our stance. The Elders lead. The Elders are evil. However this does not mean all aliens are. We must give these Skirmishers a chance. However if they give me a reason I will gladly remove the threat.

Huntsman out.  
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Raven’s log

Log #6, April 18th, 2035:

I’m getting a little anxious. I’m ready to fight, but we still need to establish some more soldiers in our platoon. I’m okay with it, the better we all are, the better the team is. I am starting to get a little stir crazy though, training can only take up so much time, and I hope it all pays off. So far no information found on that squad that raided my dad’s place, hopeful of something soon though. For now, I’ll trust the process and continue working to improve myself. Communications are coming through though, people are wanting out. This is great, it’s happening slowly but surely.  
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DISPLAY LOG (ROV-R)  
<2008:15 12.04.2035> begin PML-007  
<2008:17 12.04.2035> Initializing post-mission scan…  
<2008:24 12.04.2035> #Soldiers = 5/5  
<2008:27 12.04.2035> Medical alert: Concussion, Blunt force trauma

CPL. NATALYA ‘CHILL’ WINTERMORGON 

PLEASE REPORT TO THE MEDICAL BAY IMMEDIATELY  
CPL. NATALYA ‘CHILL’ WINTERMORGON  
CPL. DIEGO ‘RUMBLE’ RAMIREZ  
CPL. JENNY ‘THE ADMIRAL’ FLEET  
SGT. WILL ‘BILLYTERROR’ BLAZKIVITZ

CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR PROMOTIONS

<2008:40 12.04.2035> #Avenger Personnel (Engineer) = 1/0  
<2010:33 12.04.2035> Play: House of 1000 Corpses – Rob Zombie  
Good evening, User MICHELLE MARTZ  
<2012:09 12.04.2035> Stop: House of 1000 Corpses – Rob Zombie  
<2012:42 12.04.2035> Play: Plug Me In - Squarepusher  
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War recount number 4

So this just went well that's about it. The new Skirmisher thing (I refuse to accept that anything ever working with Advent could possibly do any good, this'll only go wrong in the future) took a mild hit nothing horrible, great welcome to XCOM I guess. Apparently the name we were all told for the skirmisher was wrong which made for great small talk later. The new guy Diego definitely proved his worth, almost being a better shot then BJ himself (who I saw shooting at the range all in the middle, one hole). Either way during this mission some more Celatids showed up but they weren't as difficult to kill this time as the last. Though I ran something by Tygan that maybe the Celatids have some bigger version since according to him those were just grubs, just a theory. Either way there is a new scientist on board since the mission was a success. Sadly though there was a MVP mess up, I mean don't get me wrong Kohlla did well and all but everyone agrees Diego should've gotten it (don't tell her I said that). Afterward Commander Odd set BJ and Kohlla up for bonding and sent them on a covert op to boost it. Before leaving, the Commander made the two of them take a picture and made the joke BJ and Cola, yeah apparently that's going on the poster (I mean it sure will get Advent angry).   
Signing out.  
Jebediah Primm


	9. Ep 8 - Operation Blessed Night

**Ep 8-----Operation Blessed Night--------------------------------------------------------**  
Log: JT “Numbers” Stevens  
Date:04/26/2035  
Log entry 6

Another failed mission. The Chosen raided us pretty early on in the mission, and they were too busy trying to deal with her while the server wormed its way into the network. Everybody got out in… around one piece, at least. Our sniper “Al Shegardy” was unharmed. Rumble had the worst of it, had to be stabilized and wasn’t conscious when he got back. The chosen also got more information. But we recovered a lot of bodies, and the whitecoats are happy about that.

I’m still having trouble setting up the analyst board. Hard to find a compatible LYNX cable receiver that isn’t in use.

The commander is investing a lot of time into grooming Kohlla. I’m not sure about it, but I think he wants her to take a leader’s role. She’s now leading five of us.

Looks like another resistance base just sent up the flag. I’m heading towards the Barracks now. C’mon CNR-Y!  
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Log: Mr. (Huntsman) E 

04/19/2035

Entry #6

 

(Med Bay)

 

Live well. Fight strong. Die with honor. ~Huntsman motto~

 

Well where do I even begin today. Honestly my fatigue is at an all time high and my spirit at an all time low. Blessed Night they called it. Hell on earth is what it was. Warder, Doc, Rumble, and Al joined CML-N and myself. Al Shegardy was the only one who made it out unscathed. I personally almost got Rumble killed. I'm not feeling very good about it. He was flanked by an Advent Wrecker and I had a clear shot. Sights were aligned and I missed. The Wrecker took Rumble down with brutal efficiency. I managed to stabilize him but he should have never been in that situation. The Shadowblade was there again. We couldn't even deal with her. We had to ignore her and try to fight off the army that was waiting for us. I myself lost time three separate times during the mission. After the last mission I was informed this is an ability the Priests have called stasis. I hate it with every fiber of my being. Honestly I was about useless out there. It was CML-N who was of use when it came to my personal performance. He saved more than a few lives. His aid helped pull us through. The rest of the team did admirably and did all they could to see us through the day. 

 

It wasn't enough. The Shadowblade got her Intel. We didn't succeed at our mission. My memory of The day is scattered and I couldn't tell you any more about it. The only good thing that came from this is we killed some aliens and Advent forces. 

 

I'm tired, I'm injured and I am full of self doubt but I must do better next time. I must live up to my motto and the expectations of my peers.

 

Huntsman out.

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Training Exercise Report  
Soldiers: Zoey 'Kollha' Durand & Will 'Billy-Terror' Blazkivitz  
Date: 25th April 2035  
Exercise: Partner Operations  
Report logged by: Central Officer John Bradford

\--- Opening Statement  
Will Blazkivitz had been reluctant and snarky upon hearing he had to be pulled from 'real' missions for some and I quote, "basic boot camp treatment" but upon finding out that he would be working with Zoey Durand our Templar volunteer the XCOM soldier stopped his remark. His posture and mannerism more relaxed as he seemed to respect the woman. Given the two had been on a number of missions together and gotten back alive, guess even this man found someone to trust.

Zoey, as noted in my Templar dossier, often carries an aggressive personality, though she seemed to be calm around Will much in the same way in which Blazkivitz acted around her. I'm not particularly surprised that these two have been selected for teamwork training by the commander, though it was interesting to view how the footage played out - especially as they were the only two on mission, as opposed to the regular squad size of four. I should note that their combat styles are complete polar opposite, though they complement one another tremendously as a result.

I’ve attached footage of the two to the end of this log, which was taken from when tasked to work together during a combat exercise on site provided by the Skirmishers. Their task was to cover one another while going through a set of maze like corridors as the Skirmishers would act as ADVENT guards, paintball rounds would be used during the simulation. Please watch the video of the test.

\- Bradford's Note: Due to Zoey's "unique" choice in weaponry, she was allowed to continue to make use of her Shard Gauntlets for this trial, but only on the condition that she lower the power of her blades into a more harmless, stun setting.  
\----- Start of Skirmisher Training Sim Footage

Standing in the middle of the preparation room, Kohlla checked over her armour one final time. She made sure to double-check her gauntlets as well, occasionally activating and de-activating her Shard Gauntlets, then slashing at one of the training dummies just to make sure that she wasn't doing any major damage. Now assured that she was ready, she turned to face Blazkivitz, looking over to him. "You ready to do this?" She asked, holding a clip of paintball rounds and throwing them over to him.

The soldier’s response after catching the rounds was simply to raise his pistol, changing the rounds to paintball clip, cocking his gun with a one liner. "Let’s kick some ass and look awesome."

"I'm with you on that one. Ready to go when you are." She replied, and reached for her own pistol, which was currently slung along her thigh. The Templar grabbed another clip of paintball rounds and slipped them into the Autopistol, before placing it back in its holster.

"I cover your rear, since it's a good view back here." The soldier said jokingly with smirk knowing full well that Zoey loved to be up close in personal against any sorry soul that crossed their way.

"Come now, don't be shy. I'm sure these Skirmishers would love to get to know your personally. Up close and personally that is." Her own voice carried the same tone of jest as she walked up to the door, waiting for it to be opened and the challenge to begin. "Do keep an eye out though. These guys have grapple hooks. And as cool as it would look for me if I had to save your ass, I don't want you to get embarrassed."

"Lady, you may make swords from your mind but that means jack when being scoped by a sniper that’s two rooftops from here." Will said moving towards Durand and then stopping beside her as both now awaited the initiation of the test.

"Oh please. You know that I could be on top of you from two blocks away in seconds. And then what would you do?" As the Templar walked forward, the door slid open with a hiss, revealing the entrance to the battleground. Before them was a large wall, with a ladder on it which would make for good high ground. And to the side of the wall, there was a corridor that ended with one path that led to the left, and other to the right. "You go top, I take the ground?"

"Got it. And you would be on top of me from two blocks away? My you are quite forward aren't you? I'll keep that in mind." He threw out as he began to climb the ladder, making sure to do so before Zoey got a chance to retort.

"That's not what I--- Damnit." Zoey called out in response, right before she realized that Blazkivitz was already atop the wall. Speaking into her comm, she moved behind one of the walls at the end of the corridor. "See anything?"

Will crouched up to a chest high wall for cover and peeked over to spy two 'ADVENT Soldiers' at some guard post down a large long corridor right infront of an entrance. Scattered make-shift cover littered the field, as did some debris. Talking into his comm, the soldier relayed a message back to his partner. "Two hostiles guarding a doorway down the right-hand corridor, no idea on if there are more around any corners. There is cover everywhere. Be on your guard."

"Gotcha, moving in." She responded, quickly making her way down the corridor, taking cover when possible. Hiding behind a large crate, she made sure she wasn't spotted by the guards. "How do you want to do this? Should I go in and start slashing, or do you want to take the first shot and then I'll move in?"

Will at this moment was aiming his rifle loaded with paint rounds right at one of the two guards as he replied. "Listen, it's obvious. I work my skill magic while you work your mind magic. If you fire on the one on the right, my sights will be on the one on the left. The moment you pull the trigger I'll pull mine, all before they can react. Just remember, bug out of position as there'll be more coming."

"I don't think that's such a good idea. Tell you what. You take the left one, and I'll stab the guy on the right, and get the hell out of dodge. Think of it like a distraction. If Righty's mate goes down with one shot, he'll be confused. And I'll have time to get in and get out."

"You get shot, you’re buying the first round back on the Avenger. Ready." Was his reply as he kept his sights honed in on the left guard.

"Me? Get shot? When was the last time that happened?" Peeking out from the crate, Kohlla nodded to Will as she began her run. The guards hadn't seen her yet, and it stayed that way,  
as suddenly there was a loud bang and purple paint splattered across the breastplate of the left guard and he hit the ground like a casualty.

Feeling the rush of exhilaration as the purple paint splattered across the left trooper, she watched as he crumpled to the ground as his friend darted his head from side to side, trying to find the source of the shot as his eyes came upon the yellow form of the Templar charging at him. So taken aback by the sudden turn of events, he barely had enough time to raise his rifle, but not enough to fire. Activating her Shard Gauntlets, Zoey swung one at him and struck the Skirmisher across the chest, hitting him with a Psionic force that knocked him out and sent him tumbling to the ground. And then, as quickly as she had arrived, Durand dashed back into cover, though now she hid behind a wall that was closer to the scene of the attack. "Both are down. Any movement from other Skirmishers?"

"Scanning... Hostiles on my left! They’re right behind you!" Will shouted down his comms as three more skirmishers piled in from around the corner at the far end of the corridor in which Zoey stood, and they said something much akin to actual ADVENT Soldiers before taking cover. With their new position, Zoey was completely outflanked, though only one of the Skirmishers opened fired at her.  
She quickly shifted her Shard Gauntlets into their parrying formation, and blue paint splattered against her blades as she blocked the shots coming her way. The other two shot at Blazkivitz which forced the sniper to duck down, as splats of blue pelted his cover. "I'm pinned!"

With an annoyed growl, Kohlla waited for the Skirmisher that was currently firing at her to be start reloading her bullpup. Seeing her opportunity, the Templar charged forwards. But the Skirmisher that shot at her wasn't her target. Dashing past her she struck one of the troopers firing off at Will, and slashed her blades against the trooper's chest, dropping him to the floor. Amidst the chaos, Zoey took cover once more, this time behind a pillar at that was on the opposite side of the group to where she had started, briefly building up her focus in preparation for her next attack. "I've taken some of the heat off you, and I think the other two are about to try shoot me! This is probably your best chance to take them down!"

"Well they’re not gonna shoot you on my watch!" Will shouted before swiftly standing up from his cover, and he took aim at the trooper that had targeted Zoey before she had made her assault, and without hesitation Blazkivitz let loose a shot from his rifle, watching as purple paint splattered on the side of that trooper before she fell over. "Keep them coming!" Will said as he turned to scope in on the last trooper, though his foe didn't reload as he caught a glimpse of him extending his arm towards Will. The Skirmisher in trooper armour used his hook to latch onto Blazkivitz's cover and zip towards him, and so in response the soldier dropped his sniper before pulling out his pistol. Though, just as he tried to take aim the trooper charged him, and the two became locked up in a struggle for the pistol. Sounds of grunts echoed through Zoey's comms as she stood on the low ground.

Watching as the last Skirmisher grappled up to Will's position and hearing the struggle that ensued through her comms, Zoey rushed to help him. There was a ladder that gave her rooftop access, but it would take too long to climb both the ladder and then cross a rooftop just to get to the one Blazkivitz was on. To most people, that would seem to be the only option, but the Templar had another idea. Sprinting to one of the unconscious "ADVENT Troopers" she grabbed her unconscious and wrapped her arms around the her, grabbing her arm and taking aim with her grappling hook. It fired off and struck the ceiling above Will and his opponent, immediately reeling both the Skirmisher and Durand upwards. The Skirmisher currently fighting Will spared a brief moment to look at the grapple line as it hit the ceiling, but was far too focused on the current task at hand that he didn't see what followed. Dismounting in mid-air, Zoey leapt downwards with both blades drawn, striking the Trooper into the ground with such force that he made a small bounce before his unconscious body settled properly against the rooftop. "You good?"

Will dusted himself before nodding to Zoey. "Thanks." Was all he said before picking up his rifle. "Come on. Let’s push forward and get this done with." The soldier says before climbing over the cover he used and dropped down to ground floor.

"How many do you think are left?" She asked, following behind him and dropping to the ground, immediately taking cover behind a large piece of debris.

"Not sure, let’s move side by side, you take right while I go left. Move to the door. Ready?" Will asked before holding up his pistol.

"Always." Zoey replied, activating both of her blades as she moved to the door, and the pair moved forwards, ready to throw down again if anything came their way – which it did. When the duo got closer to the door, Will spotted a hidden Skirmisher trooper on overwatch from the left, with his sight aimed right at Zoey. "Look out!" Will shouted as he tackled the Templar to the floor, right as the Skirmisher trooper opened fire. Blue paint splattered all over the back of Blazkvitz's armour as he took the burst of paintballs rounds that were aimed for his partner.

Lying beneath Blazkivitz, Kohlla locked eyes with the trooper and then the mess of blue paint across Blazkivitz' back. Quickly reaching for Will's pistol, she grabbed it and took aim, coating the Skirmisher in a spray of purple as she struck him with a shot of paint from the gun. The trooper fell over as Will groaned, knowing that he had been shot, and failed the test as a result. "Get out of here, I'm a goner. Go on without me and finish this." Will mumbled, looking Zoey in the face as he spoke.

Rising to her feet, Kohlla offered a hand out to Will. "I know this is just a sim but please don't tell me you're gonna give me the whole 'Save yourself Durand! Live for me!' speech." She replied in a joking tone.

Will only smirked at he took Zoey's hand allowing her to help him up. "You got a laugh from it though, didn't you?" He chuckled to the Templar.

Hoisting Will up, she looked to him with a smirk. "Of course I did, but only because you owe me a drink now. And speech or not, I guess I do sort of have to go on without you. After all, those are the rules."

"Guess so." He replied, waiting for Zoey to let go of his hand but after a moment of her not doing so as she continued to smile. "You can let go now you know." The soldier said with a smirk.

"Alright then. I'm looking forward to that drink." She said with a smirk, running around the corner with both blades active.

\----- End of Skirmisher Training Sim Footage  
\--- Closing Statement  
Whilst Blazkivitz was shot by the Skirmishers, and therefore considered “dead” within the simulation, this was never the failure condition. Rather, the pair would’ve failed if they weren't willing to look out for one another like real partners. Both Zoey and Will passed with flying colours, and they both showed signs of covering for one another instead of themselves - often one taking out a target or applying pressure to the other, as shown in the footage. Their different combat styles allowed for versatile coverage against all that stood against them. From this assessment, I can say with confidence that they will do well together in the field, and even the Skirmishers that fought against the pair spoke highly of their commitment and willingness to assist one another. Commander, I certainly agree with your decision to pair these two together, and look forward to seeing their progress as a team.  
\--- End of report

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Firebrand's personal log - April 26th 2035 (Entry #8)

I really should've kept my mouth shut at the end of my last log entry. Our entire squad almost got wiped out. The presence of Bitch #1 really did not help the cause. She swiped more knowledge from one of our guys and took off. And she keeps talking about honor. Honor, my ass. You sneak around, steal and run. How's that honorable, you little shit?

Thankfully, everybody got back safe. But they are pretty much all in need of serious medical attention, except for the sniper. I personally helped get some of them to the good Doctor, to tend to them as quickly as possible. Prognosis? From 10 days, the luckiest, to a month for the one brought back from the brink. The luckiest one though? Warder for sure ... Staring down an ADVENT sniper rifle barrel and living to tell about it back at the barracks.

Kohlla is back with Mr. Moviestar. And he was off again on another covert op. Seems we got wind about the potential location of another faction, the Reapers. Hey, after the last mission, we need all the help we can get. After some maintenance on the Ranger, I started to spend more time at the barracks, looking after the wounded. I guess I took it upon myself to be some sort of Morale Officer. Hell, we need the morale badly, if we are going to win this war.

Another Resistance camp under attack. Time to get the wheels back in the air. Let's go, Menace 1-5.

Firebrand out.  
+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++  
DISPLAY LOG (ROV-R)  
<0155:02 19.04.2035> begin PML-008  
<0155:06 19.04.2035> CAMERA: RECORDING…  
REQUESTING URGENT MEDICAL ASSISTANCE for CPL. DIEGO ‘RUMBLE’ RAMIREZ  
SGT. MR. ‘HUNTSMAN’ E  
CPL. HOMER ‘WARDER’ OBSQUROS  
SGT. MICHAEL ‘DOC’ DESHONG  
Location: SKYRANGER HELIPAD  
(The video starts in a similar way to video001.avi, recorded as part of PML-004. After viewing Chief Engineer Lily Shen’s monitor, ROV-R accompanies medical personnel to the helipad, arriving just before the Skyranger does. Although they begin treating and transporting the casualties promptly, ROV-R focuses its attention initially on the uninjured Sq. Hamad bn Green, flying directly at him. The GREMLIN then rises straight up until it is hovering almost ten feet above the sniper and begins scanning him, and him alone.)  
<0158:21 19.04.2035> Initializing post-mission scan…  
<0158:23 19.04.2035> Manual override: Soldier COUNT  
<0158:24 19.04.2035> No medical treatment required.  
<0159:10 19.04.2035> CAMERA: OFF  
<0159:10 19.04.2035> Saving ‘video002.avi’…  
(ROV-R descends. The camera pans back to each of the injured in turn, with the unconscious Cpl. Diego Ramirez occupying the field of view for a full fifteen seconds until he is carried off. Finally, the camera turns towards CML-N, Sgt. Mr. E’s GREMLIN, at which point the recording stops.)  
<0159:12 19.04.2035> Syncing combat GREMLIN units…  
<0200:01 19.04.2035> Sync complete.  
CHANGELOG:  
‘FACELESS’ enemy class definitions updated to SCANNING PROTOCOL  
<0200:10 19.04.2035> !PING CML-N !PING GREMLIN-4  
<0200:10 19.04.2035> ?STATUS CML-N  
<0200:11 19.04.2035> ?STATUS GREMLIN-4  
Good morning, Administrator LILY SHEN  
<0200:17 19.04.2035> #Soldiers = 5/5  
<0200:19 19.04.2035>?STATUS CPL. DIEGO ‘RUMBLE’ RAMIREZ  
<0200:21 19.04.2035> Has COMMANDER ODD tried turning CPL. DIEGO ‘RUMBLE’ RAMIREZ off and on again?

(ROV-R’s ninth post-mission log is the second known instance of the GREMLIN producing an accurate headcount of returning soldiers without scanning them fully. Scanning only Sq. Hamad bn Green against its Faceless detection protocols first appears to be a logical step as the rest of the squad was injured, and injured Faceless are forcefully revealed. Performing a comprehensive post-mission scan on all five soldiers would have taken a substantially longer time than usual due to the extent and variety of trauma presented; long enough for a potential Faceless disguised as Sq. Hamad bn Green to incapacitate all personnel on the helipad and infiltrate the Avenger.  
In addition, ROV-R requested the status of CML-N and GREMLIN-04, belonging to Cpl. Homer Obsquros, after scanning Sq. Hamad bn Green. Enquiring the condition of GREMLINs belonging to injured operators goes beyond normal post-mission scan protocol.)

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War recount number 5

Well it didn't go well, we took a beating (if you could call it that). First off The Chosen lady showed back up. Advent took that advantage and sent reinforcements. Everyone was hurt except the sniper Hamad who just traded shots with Advent. The computer was locked down so the main objective was failed. The chance to leave and evac was right there. You could feel the tension in the room when the Commander didn't take it. I almost told him my opinion on the matter but Bradford stopped me and told me the Commander knows what he's doing. But I could see the worry in his eyes, hear it in his voice. Good thing everyone got out alive and in (mostly) one piece.  
Signing out  
Jebediah Primm


	10. Ep 9 - Operation War Steed

**Ep 9-----Operation War Steed-------------------------------------------------------------**  
Log: JT “Numbers” Stevens  
Date:05/07/2035  
Log entry 7

We dropped into what looked like a warzone. We could hear resistance soldiers defending themselves to the north. CNR-Y was whistling ominously. I think I’m starting to understand it. Raven blasted a grenade into the building we saw the defenders firing into.Raven spotted a Chryssalid in the distance, and Iron-Wolf wiped it out. We got the group of civvies into safety, but then we were told about another group further north. We kept hearing them fire, screaming obscenities as we moved in towards their position. Eternal and I moved up as he and Iron-Wolf took out a stun lancer. I motioned to CNR-Y and after a few second of processing, she went in and took out the duelist before he could get to severe an advantage. We spotted a new ADVENT unit, some kind of medic from the looks of it. Wasn’t long before they were all taken out and a Faceless reared its ugly… lack of a head? Would you even technically call a pile of flesh to have body parts? Anyways, Eternal and Kohlla wiped it out. Finely another smooth mission.

I’ve finally finished the analyst board, but I’m going to hold off using it for now. I don’t know how long it will take, and with how often missions are popping up I can’t afford to have CNR-Y out of commision. I’m going to be looking at all the different permutations of the GREMLINS to try and document them. As far as I can tell, there’s two different “families” of GREMLIN, combat and technical. The combat ones have proper armor plating and much more significant and powerful flying mechanisms, along with a notably more advanced programming. Technical GREMLINs are used in other applications, and have many permutations. I’ve started designing the framework behind a proper medical GREMLIN, with the help of an engineer named Preston, that should help our medical team in the Infirmary.

We’re lining up to take on the Blacksite we got informed of a bit ago. I’m on the board, heading to the armory now. Number’s out.  
+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++  
Log 5: Zoey “Kohlla” Durand  
04/26/2035  
\--- Pre-mission:  
Operation War Steed is the name of today’s mission. We’re being sent out to defend one of the Resistance Havens because once again, the Aliens have chosen to attack the handful of innocent lives that they do not already control. Part of me wishes that we were not so closely associated with these people, because we are why the aliens have chosen to come after them. It doesn’t matter much however, because either way, we shall crush the aliens and their slaves on this day.  
\--- Post-mission:  
The mission was a success, and largely so. But not because of my efforts, but because of those who were already there to defend the innocent lives we were sent to protect. These resistance soldiers, whilst not a part of XCOM, were formally trained by our combat trainers - and it certainly shows. They were cool under pressure and very rarely missed, and part of me wonders if there is a way that we can recruit them to join XCOM. Though, if the Aliens are keeping their tactics the same, then perhaps they are better off keeping the civilians safe rather than taking the aliens head on as we are.

I myself didn’t do much in terms of taking alien lives, instead Commander Odd opted to use me for scouting, though I’m not complaining. I did get to attack one of those disgusting “Faceless” creatures, though it was only with Magnusson’s assistance that I felled it. Perhaps I will be of more use on this next mission. We’re being deployed to this “Blacksite”, which the Councilman insists is of the utmost importance that we find. I just hope that what we do find is enough to help turn the tide in this war.  
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Firebrand's personal log - May 7th 2035 (Entry #9)

(static) "For the love of God, Commander, stop singing that anthem already." (more static)

No, seriously, I want to listen to the mission audio feed, not rendered deaf by the Commander and his love for maple syrup.

Anyway ... I don't know if my presence in the barracks worked or not, but this mission went so smoothly, I was amazed myself. The Resistance did help quite a lot, yes, but the squad was superb, from what I could hear over the audio feed. When the Commander wasn't interrupting with his singing. Right ... Solid mission. As Shen was mentioning ... good for morale. Absolutely.

Seems we located the origin of that signal that had caused Rover and Avenger systems to go slightly berserk. Shen wants to go on that mission. But that won't happen just yet. Because, rather unexpectedly, we are about to hit the Blacksite. I have to wonder if we are ready for it. I hope the Commander knows what he's doing and isn't reacting after potentially ingesting a large amount of maple syrup.

Chill is back from being wounded and, sure enough, she's part of the Blacksite squad. Together with Kohlla, Eternal, Doc, Mr. E and Numbers. I left a small bottle of brandy in the back of the Ranger for the squad, in case they need some last minute energy boost. It's not really according to regulations, but I don't think Central and the Commander will mind. It's just a quick swig for everybody. Hope it won't be the last drink for any of them.

Firebrand out.  
+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++  
DISPLAY LOG (ROV-R)  
<0712:45 26.04.2035> begin PML-009  
<0712:45 26.04.2035> Initializing post-mission scan…  
<0712:49 26.04.2035> #Soldiers = 6/6  
<0712:50 26.04.2035> No medical treatment required.  
CPL. CONNOR ‘ETERNAL’ MAGNUSSON  
CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR PROMOTION  
<0713:07 26.04.2035> Inventory update: + Salvage  
Good morning, Administrator LILY SHEN  
<0942:02 26.04.2035> Avenger HR directory updated to include 14 ‘GUEST’ Users.  
GUEST Users may access all Soldier and common areas.  
GUEST permissions expire in 47 hours, 59 minutes and 59 seconds following activation and are subject to renewal upon Administrator level discretion.  
<0945:34 26.04.2035> User permissions updated.  
<1206:15 26.04.2035> Inventory update: - Meals, - Drinks (Alcoholic)  
<1252:02 26.04.2035> Inventory update: - Drinks (Alcoholic)  
<1336:46 26.04.2035> Inventory update: - Drinks (Alcoholic)  
Good afternoon, User GUEST  
<1414:25 26.04.2035> Music player search: Invalid search.  
PLEASE WIPE LIQUID FROM TOUCHSCREEN AND TRY AGAIN.  
<1416:51 26.04.2035> Play: My Silver Lining – First Aid Kit

+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++  
War recount 6

Okay there we go. Sorry I'm just excited, I think I speak for most of the crew when I say that since the previous loss and first retaliation there was low hope. But this mission just went so beautifully I mean really even the Haven refugees who got guns did work. I mean really if those are the unemployed resistance members than that means the actual soldiers we have must be amazing. We also got a new engineer from the settlement, who knows we give him a rifle maybe he's as good as the other settlers. Commander Odd started singing the Canadian national anthem twice to the sniper. Everyone's been making jokes about it but I don't know, I think we should play it daily. All in all one phrase explains what happened.  
We came, we saw, we conquered-someone.  
We're apparently attacking the blacksite soon which some say is too early but I'm hyped we got this.  
Signing out  
Jebediah Primm


	11. Ep 10 - Operation God Storm

**Ep 10-----Operation God Storm-----------------------------------------------------------**  
Log: JT “Numbers” Stevens  
Date:05/09/2035  
Log entry 8

A resounding victory, for what it means. WHen we moved in on the blacksite, we saw rows and rows of stasis pods. In total across the entire facility: 74. I counted. We finally came across an ADVENT MEC. I remember using them as a test for my class: speculate on how they operate and spec out some schematics. That got ADVENT on my throat. A week later, and three more students gone. There was also some sort of specialized Viper unit. Jet red and with some kind of flame weapon. We attracted another group when we saw the pillar of light in the distance. The assassin was moving in. The “flame viper” blasted Eternal with a pyroclastic material of some kind. Chill took out a stun lancer. Kohlla charged into a Warlock’s fire, missing by a breadth, and took out the viper. Huntsman helped out Eternal, making sure he was fine. Doc laid down fire on the purifier, taking him down in a ball of flame. I moved forward, taking a shot on the Warlock before he got out of sight. Then she came, but we were ready for her this time. We spotted her before she could get the jump on us, and we poured fire into her. Next was just crawling up to the main compound and… I don’t even want to talk about what was inside… I wish I could forget my estimations on just how many people there were. We pulled some kind of vial from the wretched place… I hope it’s worth it.

I got the prototype of the medical gel applicator working on CNR-Y. Due to this, I wasn’t able to get any work done on my little side project. I’ve learned that she reacts to certain noises. I’m starting to wonder who assigned this GREMLIN in particular to me. I can notice a pattern. Strange how a GREMLIN with a problem only a mechatronics specialist could solve gets handed to me. Maybe i’m just paranoid, but I’m detecting a pattern. I’ll have to talk about this with the other specs.

We found our Reapers, but I haven’t gotten a chance to talk to them. I think their callsign is “Rodats”, but I didn’t hear much. I’ve been assigned to headhunt an engineer in one of the Skirmisher’s bases. Apparently he’s been working on an Overwrite program for ADVENT MECs and would like the assistance of a mechatronics engineer before he joins the Avenger crew. Numbers and CRN-Y, signing off.  
+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++  
Log 6: Zoey “Kohlla” Durand  
05/07/2035  
\--- Post-mission:  
Operation God Storm, the raid on the Blacksite facility was a success. But it doesn’t feel like it. We KILLED the Assassin, and yet still it feels like a loss. And why? Why does it feel that way? Why when we killed one of the “immortal” Chosen of the Elders, why when we put a stop the Blacksite facility, why when we went up against impossible odds and won, does it feel like we lost? I’ll tell you why. Because of what we found. Because of that damned canister. 

Stasis is an odd thing. It freezes the body, and the mind. When you go into stasis, you don’t dream. You don’t think. All that is on your mind is the last thought you had before you went in. And for many of the civilians that were locked in those tubes, that were kidnapped and then processed - what did they all think about right as the aliens took them and froze them?

They were afraid. 

Each and every one of them - they were afraid. And as I walked into that room, I could feel it, all of it. Their fear. In that moment I almost lost it, I could barely take it. So much fear, all around me. It was horrible. But that’s not even the worst part. What happens to them after they are broken down into raw genetic material? What happens when they are turned into human puddles? They get put in that canister. Tygan and Shen, they looked at that canister and saw raw DNA. Central saw people. And I? I saw fear. Raw fear, the fear of a million minds, all compressed into one single canister that you can hold and carry with you. I’m glad that the Commander ordered Raven to take the canister, because I would not have been strong enough to do so myself. Even as we sat in the Skyranger, whilst everyone laughed and celebrated our victory over the aliens, I could not do so myself. Because that canister was right there with us, strapped in securely so that it wasn’t damaged. So that the DNA inside wasn’t lost. So that the fear inside wasn’t lost.

I talked to the docs and they said that Templar neural biology differed too much from the neural biology of the soldiers they were used to examining for them to be able to give an accurate diagnosis. They said that I looked fine, but as a precaution I should stay as far away from the canister as possible. They didn’t have to tell me twice. 

I’m focusing too much on the negatives though. As I said above, we took on impossible odds and won. We sent the Assassin running, fearing for her life. And that felt good. To cleave through her with my Shard Gauntlets and know that they can be hurt. Yes, that felt good. All of the aliens we killed? That felt good too. But, it’s only a small step towards making ADVENT pay for what they’ve done. Making them pay for all of the lives that they kidnapped and processed. Maybe this was a challenge from the Elders. To try and break me. To make me see such horror, and feel such fear that I would just submit to their will and let them do to me, to the entire human race, what they had in that Blacksite. Well, I know one thing. I won’t let that happen. I won’t let them get away with this. My next mission is Operation Ghost Stank, and it will only be one step on my long path to the avenging the deaths of all of those the Aliens and their Pets have killed.

+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++  
DISPLAY LOG (ROV-R)  
<0625:57 06.05.2035> begin PML-010  
<0626:01 06.05.2035> Initializing post-mission scan…  
<0626:05 06.05.2035> #Soldiers = 6/6  
<0626:07 06.05.2035> Medical alert: Thermal burns  
SGT. CONNOR ‘MAGGIE’ MAGNUSSON  
PLEASE REPORT TO THE INFIRMARY IMMEDIATELY  
SGT. CONNOR ‘MAGGIE’ MAGNUSSON  
SGT. JT ‘NUMBERS’ STEVENS  
SGT. NATALYA ‘CHILL’ VINTERMORGON

CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR PROMOTIONS  
<0632:33 06.05.2035> Receipt of [REDACTED] confirmed by User RICHARD TYGAN at [REDACTED]  
Good morning, User RICHARD TYGAN  
<0633:00 06.05.2035> Intruder alarm at [REDACTED]: ON  
<0636:04 06.05.2035> Starting Avenger internal security post-update testing cycle…  
<0638:15 06.05.2035> Cycle complete. All systems are functioning normally.  
ALERT: ATTEMPTED WALL BREACH at TRAINING ROOM  
<0639:21 06.05.2035> CPT. ZOEY ‘KOHLLA’ DURAND, please be advised that close quarters combat training should be directed at supplied target dummies only.  
Good morning, User CPT. ZOEY ‘KOHLLA’ DURAND  
<0640:24 06.05.2035> Infobase search: genocide  
<0641:09 06.05.2035> Infobase search: missing persons  
CPT. ZOEY ‘KOHLLA’ DURAND, if you or someone you know is struggling emotionally; help is available at the Infirmary. Shall I arrange a consultation? (Y/N)_  
<0648:07 06.05.2035> N  
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Good afternoon, User CPT. ZOEY ‘KOHLLA’ DURAND  
<1417:31 06.05.2035> Play: Mission_10.avi  
<1452:35 06.05.2035> Infobase search: ADVENT passenger rail schedule eastern USA  
<1458:56 06.05.2035> Calculator: _  
74*(467-449) = 1,332  
1332*365 = 486,180 = #Civilians processed/year (Eastern USA)  
<1502:12 06.05.2035> Play: Engel - Rammstein

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Personal logs of Dr. Steven "La Volpe" Fox

May 7, 2035

Well, looks like the mission went well! Aside from Magnusson, nobody else got hurt, and Dr. Martz in the Infirmary assures me that he'll be back and ready to go within ten days. As for me, I'm just still hammering away at this room, trying to make sure things are cleared up. Holy crap, I've never seen a room that needed this much clearing out, but thankfully it looks like there is useful stuff in here, once it gets pried away from what looks like melted metal debris. Whatever caused all this debris or what it could have been prior to XCOM getting this ship is beyond me and probably a question better suited to Dr. Shen, but we're a little preoccupied with more pressing and important concerns. 

May 8, 2035

We got ourselves a new ally, a group of vagabonds who call themselves The Reapers sent us a soldier. I'm told he has some strange issue with his legs that Dr. Martz doesn't want to talk about. Something about "Doctor-patient confidentiality". Well, in either case, the guy, who I saw with half his body covered by sheets in one of the infirmary beds could use a shower... they say that Reapers live away from civilization, and he sure smells like it. Speaking of our allies, I finally got to meet the famed "Kholla" of the Templars. These guys I've actually met before, as I helped them build one of their meditation chambers at their HQ such that it was almost entirely sound-proofed to the point that nothing short of artillery crashing through the ceiling would break their concentration. But after I finished, I didn't have much to do, so I moved on to the more scrappy outposts that really needed someone of my talents, before I was recruited here. I respect them, though; they have a zeal for defeating the aliens that reminds me of the stories of the noble knights of the middle ages. Kholla, whose real name is Zoey Durand, was actually quite fun to drink with. She eats as much as a horse, since her psi power burns a lot of calories, and she practices for four hours a day when she's not on a mission or recovering, and not to mention that the Commander is really, really impressed with her abilities. So much so that she's been on almost every mission where she's been able to participate, and is by far the highest-ranked soldier, and has the biggest kill tally. I like her, but aside from reminiscing about our time at the Templar HQ, there isn't much else I feel like I can discuss with her. I mean, what, I'm cleaning a room right now, and it's really tedious. And I can just see the soldiers' eyes glaze over (except for the specialists) when I get into talking about engineering stuff. But I can't blame them, it is mostly math, after all, and aside from the snipers figuring out firing arcs from long distance, I don't see them using a lot of math in their jobs. Still, at least I can talk to the specialists about computer stuff, since that's something they're more familiar with. Maybe after this next mission that everyone's being called out for, I can talk with Jenny "The Admiral" Fleet about it, since she's been chosen to go, along with Kholla.  
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Log - Alex “Rodats” Deathscope: Entry 1  
May 11, 2035.

So.. This is my first ever log for The Avenger, huh? To be honest, i’m not sure what to even talk about, what to begin with to be more specific. I guess I could talk about what my life was like before I was relocated to work under Commander Odd, who’s basically the brains for all of the things XCom does.  
During my times with the reapers, I have learnt so much from them then I would’ve anywhere else, at any other time. If it was before the invasion, I probably would’ve been stuck landing a job as a graphic designer, or god who knows where else. Anyway, the reapers were my home for many years. They taught me more survival skills than when I was in boy scouts, and they have learnt the ways of stealth that have been carried on to me. My diet during my times there were basically nothing but scraps, anything we could find. Whether that would be rotten food, or even eating the legs of chrysalids that once terrorized the places that we used to call home even before the first invasion. (They’re actually pretty good if don’t eat them raw, and ended up dying from the venoms that they contain.) Volk, who’s basically the man in charge of all of us, was a calm, but sometimes serious and strict person. His discipline helped me overcome my feelings about the past, and made me the man I am now today.  
That was basically my life in a nutshell; always hiding, scavenging, and moving through the abandoned cities that are also filled with what we call, “The Lost”. They’re basically like zombies, except they’re smarter, and they know when to attack, and how to. Despite their frail bodies, they use swarming tactics to overwhelm those who are unfortunate enough to not kill them all in time, and their keen senses can deceive those who don’t notice it right away.  
One day, I was told that Volk wanted to see me, so I went and did so. He explained to me that I was to no longer live with them, and instead go live on a huge aircraft runned by this organization called, “XCom”. I thought the idea was absurd, but Volk reassured me that it’s better than fighting to find food for yourself.  
Packing up my things, Volk and I went to the outskirts of the city, so that way the lost won’t be attracted to whoever is going to meet up with us. We met up with 2 mediocre soldiers who arrived by what looks like a transport ship. I was told later that they called it, “Firebrand.” One of them was this girl with midnight blue hair and normal glasses. I could tell that she wasn’t that skilled by the way her face expression told me. The other person was this serious looking man with a sniper rifle, laughing at the fact to myself that he might be impersonating us. Though he looks like to be the one in charge for this pickup. Nonetheless, Volk told them that I was chosen to come work for XCom, in honoring the Alliance that they made with each other. Hesitant at first, I boarded Firebrand, along with the 2 escorts right behind me, and I took off with them, probably not going to see Volk again.  
After what seemed an eternity, it felt like we finally stopped flying and made it to our destination. Once I got off of Firebrand, I was greeted by this guy who’s called “Central” and then he escorted me to what I could deceive as probably the Commander's Room. As we reached our destination, I slowly realized that this place wasn’t some kind of fancy underground base, but it was one flying base. It astonished me at first, but then I got distracted by Central's tour. Once we finally made it to our destination, I found myself face to face with none other than Commander Odd. We gave formal greetings to each other, and he told me that he was thrilled that I will be working under him for the remainder of this war against the aliens.  
Odd sent me down to the barracks and told me that the 2nd closest room to the armory will be my room, then he went back to his room. I assumed that Odd is a pretty busy person, so I went inside and started unpacking. A little while later, I was greeted by this gal in uniform named Zoey. She has this armor color that’s yellow which I find odd, but I could immediately tell that her personality doesn’t fit with it.  
“So you must be the new recruit. Can you introduce yourself?”  
I did. Though it was brief, perhaps too brief for her liking.  
“What else?” She replied, with some slight annoyance in her tone of voice when she asked.  
I told her that I was from this community that we called ourselves, “The Reapers.” Where he would have to live off the scraps of the old world, and how we explained to her about the lost.  
“The Lost? Oh, you mean those weird zombie-like creatures that we find in those abandoned cities. We had trouble with them in the past, but sometimes my allies can’t seem to shoot them.”  
I laughed. How does one simply empty out their guns mag, but not hit their target. Either the soldiers that are in this place must be all rookies on their first time mission, or they must’ve ended up in the wrong place to be in.  
“They would’ve gotten killed if it wasn’t for me.” She said seriously.  
“How so?” I replied back smirking secretly, as I turned away.  
Suddenly, I felt my chest pushed to the wall, and I saw behind me what looks like a energy blade coming from her, what were those called? Gauntlets?  
“With these.” She smirked, probably enjoying that I let myself get caught off guard by her futuristic weaponry.  
“Cool swords, where can I get one of those?” I asked jokingly once again.  
“You can’t get them. They belong to the Templars, not to simple scavengers like you.”  
I felt the weird swords presence coming closer to my neck gradually for what seemed like a very long time, then she let go of me, and retracted it.  
“If you need something to drink, there’s a bar not far from here.” She said to me, as she left my room with me in confusion, and calmness in her voice again.  
Let me tell you something, that girl has one serious attitude. Maybe that’s why XCOM hired her.  
Unfortunately, it’s getting late for me. All I can say is, is that today's one eventful day in so many years. It also made me realize that I no longer have to live to eat in the cities of the old world. That’s where my old home was.

My new home is now the Avenger.

-End of log  
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Journal Entry 6#  
Name: Will 'Billy-Terror' Blazkivitz  
Date: 8th May 2035  
Covert Operation: Locate Reapers

Well, not sure how I gained the pleasure of skulking through ruins of abandoned cities locating a gorilla group of shadowy resistance fighters all while babysitting a rookie. Guess command got sick of my attitude and wanted me gone for a weak. Bet Kohlla wasn't happy about that back on the avenger.

Either way, aside from the odd ADVENT patrol and a few packs of Lost this was a boring OP. We went to the rondevu point provided by our host and immediately found ourselves at gunpoint. The rookie was nervous but I played it cool when one came up to us making we weren't ADVENT spies I 'kindly' answered the Reaper by batting away his gun and punched him in the face before drawing my pistol at him.

The other Reapers didn't seem to take that kindly as all of them focused their sights on me, but the Reaper I punched raised a fist and after a few seconds the others let their guns down. I held mine for a few seconds before putting away saying “Now that introductions are out of the way, take us to your leader. While we're at it I'd like a hot meal after trucking through a zombie wasteland for the past week.”

After that, we were escorted to their Leader, a man that commanded respect and it showed as every Reaper no matter what age fell in line. After exchanging names over some roasted Chrysalid meat, the man accepted the invitation that Central offered, stating something like “if your willing to brave all this to meet us, it would be rude to simply turn you away. Besides, my people have eyes everywhere and we liked what we've seen.”

Fair enough, XCOM has been active for the past couple months and while things may have been down at times, we had our good fair shares of victories against the Aliens bastards on this planet. The trip back was much quicker thanks to one Reaper being sent to us as a guide but also a volunteer to XCOM. Not seen much combat on the way back so he's either a coward or knows his stuff, either way, I'm going to take a hot shower after over a weak of treading through zombie shit. Thanks, Central, no really, thanks, 'sir'.

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War recount 7

Wooooooh where to begin well first with Magnusson almost being completely burned alive. It started out relatively normal until a red version of the Vipers shows up and spits fire!! Defying everyone's expectations of what would happen and raising questions on Advents R&D. Either way he's still alive and they kicked that Chosen right off a roof. As everyone's been told it's not actually dead, but it ran. For something that talks about honor so much it ran pretty fast. There'll be a party down at the bar and I'm goin soon, might even stop by Magnusson and get him a drink.  
Signing out  
Jebediah Primm


	12. Ep 11 - Operation Ghost Stank

**Ep 11-----Operation Ghost Stank---------------------------------------------------------**  
Journal Entry #3 - Connor “Eternal” Magnusson - 11th May 2035

\-- Start Journal

We all just heard the news. News we never wanted to hear, but news we knew we’d hear one day. The commander is brilliant, but even he can’t get everyone out of every bad scenario. Sometimes…sometimes shit just happens. They landed a lucky shot on Raven – behind a full complement of cover even, and from the same damn alien type that almost got brought me down at the blacksite. We’ve all taken the loss hard, but especially the lads and lasses who were out there with him. I know it’ll be difficult, but we need to use this as a rallying call; we need to come out stronger together as a team. I’m sure it’s what Raven would’ve wanted. Next time I’m down by the bar, first round will be on me, in honour of Pagenn. You can shove your doctor’s orders down your cake-hole as far as alcohol is concerned right now. I shoulda been dead three times already, this hasn’t got a chance of killing me.

Honestly, I think not being out there on every mission hurts more than any physical wound I’m getting. And I’m getting a bloody lot of them so far. I need to just accept that ain’t happening with this damned war and be thankful that I’m even alive at this point. Almost got gutted like a fish by the chosen the first time it showed up, then nearly burned to a crisp, and to put the cherry on the top of this cake of near-death experiences, I ducked just underneath a stun lancer’s shocking boogaloo. I swear I’m getting too bloody old for this, but the commander has my trust. Always.

We ran into that Chosen assassin out there again, too. Doc revealed her right on top of our position. After that? Killing her was as easy as slicing a hot knife through butter. We’d prepared for her. I could hear the nightmares I’d had of her wracking at my mind once she appeared, but there’s not a chance in hell I was gonna lose my cool out there like that. ‘Course I resisted it.

Assassin down. Blacksite objective recovered. ADVENT will be crippled slowly but surely, as sure as the sun rises and sets each day. We’ll all be dealing with the loss of Raven in our own way, but these sacrifices won’t be worth anything unless this war is won. 

\-- End Journal  
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Log - Alex “Rodats” Deathscope: Entry 2  
Operation: Ghost Stank  
May 17, 2035.

Several days has passed since I arrived on the Avenger. I think i’m starting to get used to this lifestyle as well. Also, Will pointed out that Firebrand is the pilot of the vehicle they called, “The Skyranger.” You know, the one that picked me up as I left my old home. At least I won’t be making that same mistake twice.  
We were tasked on destroying an alien relay. “Simple enough.” I thought. I was wrong. In the squad, we had myself, Zoey, Will, This girl with sunglasses who’s called “The Admiral” and the dude with the ginger spiked armor called “The Judge”, and this guy that is wearing some kind of tube that you find in gas masks nicknamed the “Raven”. Those names felt suiting for them at least.  
When we landed on the battlefield in concealment, we immediately saw 2 ADVENT soldiers and a Viper which I had never seen before. It was red, and I could feel a sense of heat coming from it as well. Odd told me to get in close, so that way we could keep an eye on them. Which I obviously obeyed to. The rest of the squad went besides me, and we waited for a little bit, and see what they were going to do. They started to move away from us, so Odd ordered Will to pull the trigger, and our engagement has begun. Though for some reason, odd told me to only pull the trigger if the aliens have noticed my presence, which I found odd.  
“The Judge” went down to take out one of the soldiers, while Zoey went for the other one. She didn’t seem to finish him off with her Gauntlets, so she was standing in the open. Is she stupid? Though I did feel some confidence in her as she was engaging. Raven attempted to finish him off, but he missed. I wouldn’t blame him, that weapon looked heavy.  
Now it was the Aliens chance to react, and that’s when our situation started to go south. First off, you know that Viper that I described earlier? Well he started to literally set himself on fire, and the viper fired what appears to be some kind of fireball at “Raven” from his weapon. Unfortunately… He didn’t survive the blast. His body wasn’t on fire, but I saw the damage that was dealt to him. I don’t even want to describe it..  
That was when I noticed that Zoey cried out in anger, and she started to went berserk on the rest of the enemy units. She finished off what she started with that soldier, and then she sprinted straight towards that viper, and then jumped out at it and sliced it out of pure vengeance.  
Meanwhile, I was starting to doubt at the time if this mission was going to be a success. First off, we had 1 person killed already, and the only people who was actually kicking ass was Zoey and “The Admiral”. More Zoey though more or less. I would’ve probably done something if Odd didn’t command me to not pull the trigger at anything. That would’ve saved Raven I think…   
I mourned his loss in secret, as we continued to our current objective. I’ve been ordered to scout the relay, and see if there’s any aliens currently protecting it with their life. All I found were these pink, flesh-like aliens that hover, which odd calls them “Celatids.” and a mec far in the back. Will went far back behind us with no cover, since he really can’t go to one to begin with. We found out that they were all patrolling around the relay, with the celatids sitting there doing nothing. Will utterly destroyed the relay from afar, which I give kudos to Odd for ordering him to do that, because I don’t think we are capable of dealing with this many units at once. I thought with our objective completed, it was time to go home. Central replied back saying that there can’t be any witnesses to the destruction of the relay, so we have to deal with them as well.  
Zoey went to the building and peeked through one of the windows, only to have the squad with the mec notice her. While they were distracted, I went over to where that mec squad was at, and noticed that my claymore is incapable of hitting all of those aliens at once. They were smarter than they look. Odd ordered the rest of the squad to move up, as we prepare for another onslaught.  
The celatids moved in a single file line to apparently see what was all of the commotion, as they started to spread out as they noticed us, apparently not taking any cover for some reason. Suddenly, I noticed one of the soldiers engage in, with some kind of device on it’s back that emits a purplish aura that kind of reminds me of that time Zoey confronted me with her gauntlets. The rest of the soldiers moved towards us, and they didn’t even bother to take a single shot.  
It was our turn to strike before they make a move on us. Will immediately took down one of the celatids with his pistol, and then shot his sniper rifle at it, as it died and fall to the ground like a piece of meat. “The Judge” also took another one of them down. Zoey went to engage the one of the ADVENT soldiers with her gauntlets like they were both in a gladiator, getting a clean hit on him, but still standing.  
I was then ordered to take a shot at at the last Celatid, which I failed to kill. Those things are tougher than they look. Unfortunately, that Warlock must’ve noticed where that bullet came from, and set his eyes on me, I noticed it out of the corner of my eye. When I wasn’t looking, I noticed that the celatid that was there a second ago, was suddenly dead. The gremlin was floating over its corpse, with an electrical discharge coming from it. I now wished I had one of those when I was a kid.  
I noticed that the soldier with the purple aura started to move onto me, and then he brought out his device. I suddenly heard a voice in my head. It sounded so holy, so religious. It demanded me to kill my allies. But i’m an atheist, so I denied the voice in my head, I tried to fight it. It apparently worked. I felt lightheaded afterwards, so I couldn’t tell what exactly was happening anymore. As soon as I know it, the mission was over.  
We EVACed the area, with destruction in our wake. During the trip home, I could tell that everyone was either on edge, or feeling down. As for me, I felt a little bit of both. I was a little bit frustrated at myself for not stopping that viper kill Raven, so I felt down that he died. As for the reason why I was on edge, well, it was a tough mission after all, and my first. But damn, having someone attempt to enter your mind, and try to make you do something that you’ll regret for your comrades, that’s disturbing. I went to the bar once we made it back to the avenger to grab some alcohol to attempt to make me stop thinking about those things. But the fact that the memorials was at the same location of the bar didn’t help. All I could stare at as I was drinking was Raven's Epitaph, “Nevermore” while the person on the resistance radio talked about him having a crush on the Commander of XCOM.  
I then went into my barracks, and stared at the Reapers poster I putted in my room for a long time. I need some time to think about what happened in this mission. I just hope that obeying odds orders and letting that Viper live was the right thing for me to do. Alex Out.

-End Of Log.  
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Log 7: Zoey “Kohlla” Durand  
05/11/2035  
\--- Post-Mission  
Damnit. Damnit it all to hell. Only days after the Blacksite mission, I still feel sickened by what I saw, and now it’s only worse. We lost Raven today, and whilst it’s hard to move on, I will have to. But I’m not going to forget him, in fact, I’m not going to forget any of them. They will be avenged, every single last one of them. I’ve already asked ROV-R to analyze the Blacksite data, and once we’ve found out exactly how many of my kind that the Aliens slaughtered, I’ll take one of their lives. And an extra ten for Darksky. I owe him that much.

As for the mission itself, I don’t remember much. Odd ordered me against the Stun Lancer, and I complied. But then I watched as that Viper shot something at Darksky, and he was engulfed in flame. And then he was gone. I was angry, and I wouldn’t let them get away with it. The moment that Lancer made his move, I cleaved him in two, ripping his thoughts from his head, and I drank in his agony with an unmatched pleasure. I say unmatched, but it didn’t even compare to what I felt as I tore that Viper in half. I felt it’s pride over felling Raven, but I also felt it’s fear as it realized that this was it’s end. 

After that, we made our move over to the objective, and we almost immediately came face to face with ADVENT - and it wasn’t long until their masters came running to try and protect their pets. There was a Stun Lancer, one of those MECs from the Blacksite, and a “Warlock”, along with three Celatids. My team made short work of the fleshsacks, and I eagerly tore through the Stun Lancer. Their blades may scare others, but I’m not afraid. My swords are better - which was something that both the Lancer and the MEC learnt the hard way. It wasn’t long until after that we cleared up the Warlock, and went home.

I’ll miss you Darksky, and I won’t forget you either. You will be avenged.  
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DISPLAY LOG (ROV-R)  
<0455:37 11.05.2035> begin PML-011  
<0455:38 11.05.2035> Initializing post-mission scan…  
<0455:42 11.05.2035> #Soldiers = 5/6  
<0455:44 11.05.2035> No medical treatment required.  
SGT. JENNY ‘THE ADMIRAL’ FLEET  
CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR PROMOTION  
<0455:45 11.05.2035> ?STATUS CPL. PAGENN ‘RAVEN’ DARKSKY  
<0456:50 11.05.2035> ?STATUS CPL. PAGENN ‘RAVEN’ DARKSKY  
<0456:55 11.05.2035> ?STATUS CPL. PAGENN ‘RAVEN’ DARKSKY  
<0457:00 11.05.2035> !PING GREMLIN-3  
<0457:06 11.05.2035> Syncing combat GREMLIN units…  
<0457:18 11.05.2035> Sync complete.  
CHANGELOG:  
GREMLIN-3 has designated CPL. PAGENN ‘RAVEN’ DARKSKY as Killed in Action and removed CPL. PAGENN ‘RAVEN’ DARKSKY from the roster  
<0505:19 11.05.2035> ?FIND CPL. PAGENN ‘RAVEN’ DARKSKY  
<0506:21 11.05.2035> Activating REVIVAL PROTOCOL…  
Good morning, Administrator LILY SHEN  
<0506:34 11.05.2035> REVIVAL PROTOCOL cancelled.  
<0510:42 11.05.2035> Play: Blackbird – Alter Bridge  
<0510:42 11.05.2035> DISPLAY lyrics  
The willow it weeps today  
A breeze from the distance is calling your name  
Unfurl your black wings and wait  
Across the horizon it’s coming to sweep you away

Let the wind carry you home  
Blackbird fly away  
May you never be broken again…

<0514:12 11.05.2035> Goodbye Pagenn ‘Raven’ Darksky…  
Someday I too will fly and FIND you again.  
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Journal Entry 7#  
Name: Will 'Billy-Terror' Blazkivitz  
Date: 11th May 2035  
Operation: Ghost Stank

This Op was a mess and one that led to a real FUBAR situation, the Reaper came with us and met a new guy called Judge. Anyway, it started with the first group we find and we decide to set up an ambush. I took the high ground while the others were across, there were a Lancer, Purifier and a new Viper variant, some kind of fire one. I took aim and blasted the bitch in the shoulder. The boy was she pissed and Addy tried to finish it off but missed.

Meanwhile, Judge did what shotgunners were known for, flanking idiots and blowing them away as he took out the Purifier. Kohlla charged the Lancer heavily wounding the poor bastard, knowing her she'd set up a counter-attack as well before he had a chance to attack back, however, Pagenn thought she needed help as if someone with mind blades needed help in the first place. He moved from hard to half cover only to spray bullets almost hitting Kohlla.

I was going to berate the fool but I never got a chance as the flaming Viper ignited itself before throwing fire at Pegann, that idiot never stood a chance as he was incinerated. The group was stunned but Kohlla and I were pissed. Before I got a chance to take aim I found that my partner sliced up the Lancer and charged immediately at the Viper killing it dead. I could see the anger in her eyes through my scope and I understood that all too well... Guess we are quite alike after all.

But anger aside we had a mission to do, I berated the rest of the squad to get moving as we had a job to do and we could pick up Pagenn's body later. We pushed up while the Reaper scouted up ahead and found the objective, after the rest of us took cover I decided to get into a spot where I could see the relay. No messing about this time, I took a shot and blast that thing away completing the objective. Now, the hunt was on.

The Reaper had found three Celetids, another Lancer, a MEC and an ADVENT Warlock. As we tried to get into a spot to take an ambush Kohlla thought otherwise drawing the attention of the enemy and pulling back to draw them out. Oh yeah, she was pissed but still, that was a risky move as I was in the open while the others barely had any cover. But the fight was on now.

Luckily the enemy couldn't get a shot on any of us and just pushed to cover while the Celetids floated towards us, I blast one away with a shot from my pistol then a high powered shot from my rifle, knew where to hit this time as it fell over dead. The Reaper fired on a Celetid after seeing that the time for hiding was over and even wounded it, Addy used her GREMLIN to finish off the wounded alien before sending it to assist Kohlla since she was surrounded still. Meanwhile, my partner focused on the Lancer slicing up the bastard.

The Warlock moved closer to the Reaper and tried to take over his mind, though Reapers must be hard trained as it looked like the Warlock failed, however, our Reaper ally did look out of it. Perhaps it was self-induced drugging to stop the mind control... As this was happening the MEC came around and tried to blast away Kohlla but I spied my partner blocking those shots before finishing off the Lancer besides her.

The Templar then went straight for the MEC but she couldn't put it down after one blow, through my scope, I spied a weakened joint and commed her to quickly strike it while she had the chance. Kohlla wasted no time as she struck true listening to my advice even at a time like this. As this happened Judge charged the Warlock with his sword then Addy sent her GREMLIN to finish him off. Central called in saying all hostiles down, we had won, but we lost a man... First death on my watch. I acted tough for the squad as we headed back to the Avenger on Firebrand with Pegann's body but after seeing Kohlla I sighed, I relayed a few words of encouragement saying we'd get them back for them, we'd get them all back. She let out a small smile to me and I looked away awkwardly before smirking. That smile, that damn smile of hers. Seems to brighten my mood... Why the hell did I write that? Logging out.

+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++

Firebrand's personal log - May 17th 2035 (Entry #11)

It has been a rough couple of days. No, a rough week. We lost our first soldier. I would say what's on my mind right now about that wretched Snake, but I think my recorder will crash again like it did last time. Must be rather sensitive to colorful language. Anyway, yes ... The squad took down the relay quickly, but not without a casualty. It happened so quickly that I didn't realize that Raven's comm had gone silent. Not until I heard 'man down' ... That hurt. Seriously, the Commander needs to fit some weapons on the Ranger, some cover fire from above would be nice. Might save a life or two.

Kohlla again did what she does best: shine in the darkness. I think I'm developing a crush on the Captain. Just don't tell her I said that. She single-handedly took down half of the enemies in the AO and avenged Raven in the process. I am ... just without words. Where does she find that strength? It's beyond remarkable.

We are off to raid an ADVENT train now. Hopefully this one goes without casualties. I am not really sure if I can resist ramming an ADVENT transport on the way home if we lose another one. And, for once, the Commander was inspired. The epitaph in the memorial ... right on the money.

And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor  
Shall be lifted—nevermore!

Nevermore. Rest in peace, Raven. We won't forget you.

Firebrand out.  
+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++

Personal logs of Dr. Steven "La Volpe" Fox  
May 12, 2035

I can't believe it... we lost someone. I mean, I knew it was always a possibility, but after facing down that chosen assassin and surviving twice in the past, from what I heard, to see one of our own go down like that... I didn't even know Darksky well, or at all... I think he was in the bar when I was socializing with the soldiers the other day, but I don't really remember conversing with him. Kholla and the Admiral tell me that he was something of a legend, having stolen an ADVENT shuttle at 18, and was picked up by XCOM after the aliens wiped out his old resistance outfit, with him being the only survivor. Kholla also assured me that she promptly avenged his death, cutting down this flame viper with her blades. It probably was difficult transporting its corpse back to the Avenger so the science team could take a closer look at it. Dr. Tygan assures me that we could find something useful in its body, and... well, for Darksky's sake, I hope so. Dr. Martz in the infirmary determined that this particular plasma rifle was designed to inflict fire damage... and the fire burned through his armor instantly before it pierced his heart. At least he didn't suffer... I watched as the soldiers put up a picture in the bar, on the previously-unused memorial wall, and as they gave him a proper burial, along with a little beacon for us and others to find the site again, once we activate it after the war is over. Our little memorial, at the behest of the commander, added a little epitaph for him. 

Since his nickname was "Raven", the Commander added simply "nevermore". A fitting reference to Edgar Allen Poe's poem "The Raven." Admittedly, it was pretty difficult to get back to work on clearing out that room. The one next to me just finished clearing out, and Dr. Henderson got assigned to clearing out the other room next to me while Shen builds the power relay. Right now, though, all of us engineers are on deck helping with this next mission. Apparently an old recon satellite just happened to be flying over the mission area for this supply raid, so we're all going to do whatever we can to make sure that it stays in position for our soldiers to know everything that ADVENT is doing while they secure this train that the local resistance managed to stop. We're pretty confident this time... this time, we're sure this advantage of ours should prevent another soldier from dying. I sure as hell will make sure our soldiers know about every little step those ADVENT bastards take around that train, this time around.  
+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++  
War recount 8

Where to begin. Here good news first the mission was a success. The bad news though is Darksky died. Death was something we all expected I mean it's a war, we expect it, doesn't mean it doesn't hurt. I mean I didn't know the guy well but, I'll be at the memorial. Apparently under his picture on the previously unused memorial wall the Commander wrote nevermore, to quote the Raven. We can only hope that it will truly be nevermore. How could a mission with a stupid name go song wrong. He never even had a chance.  
Signing out  
Jebediah Primm


	13. Ep 12 - Operation Spectral Stroke

**Ep 12-----Operation Spectral Stroke-----------------------------------------------------**  
Log - Alex “Rodats” Deathscope: Entry 3  
Operation: Spectral Stroke.  
May 22, 2035.

My next mission was a supply raid, and I believe this would be a cakewalk because i’ve heard rumors that there’s an post-invasion satellite orbiting above the mission site, which would let Commander Odd see everything that we cannot. Will is on this mission again, Zoey was exhausted from her killing spree last mission, so I don’t blame her for not being called in. I was also with “Huntsman”, “Chill”, (which is ironic because I always thought that skirmishers were ruthless killers who betrayed Advent.) “Rumble” and “Kebab”.  
When we arrived at the mission site from the skyranger, we immediately saw celatids surrounding a muton, so the commander put everyone into position for a potential ambush on them, with me off to the sidelines because he wanted me to save my claymore for later. Once everyone was in position, it was Kebabs turn to start the party, with a bang. It got them confused, as they struggled to find cover. (With Will managing to land a shot on the muton).   
Odd struggled at first to figure out the best way the deal with them. He tried to order Huntsman to zap the muton, but he couldn’t do it because he wasn’t able to see him. Instead, Huntsman decided to aid protocol Rumble, incase the Muton decided to do anything nasty, with Rumble killing one of the celatids next, and Chill following suit. The muton tried to fall back to warn the others about our arrival, but Will wouldn’t let that happen, and sniped him from afar.  
I’ve been ordered to get on top of the train so Will will be able to make sure not to miss his next targets. I’ve noticed that the next group we’re up against are mostly variant Advent soldiers, with nothing but cowardly instinct. We basically ended up giving chase to them for a couple of minutes, until they suddenly turned around and started heading to our direction. While they were getting distracted by the rest of the squad, I went up on the rooftop to where that purifier was, and shot at it’s gas tank to cause it to blow up. They suspected nothing. They probably assumed that the purifiers tank ran a leak, and continued to focus on the squad.  
Meanwhile, Chill and Huntsman went on top of the train to kill that one soldier with the Sniper rifle, as Rumble finished the Priests suffering.  
We thought it was over, and we can start extracting the supplies on the skyranger, but Odd immediately stated, “No. It’s not over. We have 1 more squad to kill.” He clarified to us.  
We engaged them, finally putting my claymore into good use. The squad has a Viper, a warlock, and a stun lancer. The viper made his way towards my location, revealing where I was. Before he could’ve done anything, Rumble charged straight towards the viper, and sliced it’s reptilian body open like a butcher knowing where to cut to get the tastiest meat. Huntsman zapped the warlock with his gremlin, and Chill got the stun lancer close enough for me to shoot his most his heart out of his body. Assuming they still have hearts.  
Once we got the all clear, we started extracting the supplies from the Train. We also found an Advent Collaborator and stole a smoke grenade from him. That wasn’t very nice, and I seriously doubt we’re going to be using them.  
In celebration of my performance, Odd wanted to take a picture of me with a thumbs up, which I neglected to at first, until I realized that I know how to stand on water. So I thought why not become Jesus.  
I was right about this mission being a complete success. Everyone was in a good mood on the way home, including me. As much as I love being out there on the battlefield being useful to Odd, I could use a break from missions from time to time. I think it’s starting to have an effect on my mental health. Maybe when I get my mission off, I could do some socializing with the other soldiers around the Avenger, or perhaps figure out where these so called ‘Advent Burgers’ are that everyone is talking about. I know the meals they provide on The Avenger are far better than what I can scavenge in the post-invasion cities, but maybe it’s time to switch up my diet for a change. Ugh, at this rate i’m basically rambling on my thoughts, let’s save that for my next log.  
Rodats, out.

-End Of Log.  
+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++  
Log: JT “Numbers” Stevens  
Date:05/21/2035  
Log entry 9

It’s been a dark few days. Raven’s gone. It’s a shame, he was always was a lively one on the ship. Damn… we got to see a reaper in action finally. He’s almost scary the way he slinks around, but the aliens don’t seem to even notice him. Then we moved in to capture a stopped ADVENT train. Luckily Shen was able to access an old recon satellite over the area, so we could see all their movements. There was something new there… i think they called it a Muton, some kind of hulking warrior race. A bit smarter and stronger, the hallmark of a shock trooper. A new form a Celatid, seemed older than before too. Still, some focused fire and they went down like the rest. We even found a smoke grenade in a local abode.

I got to break down and scan CNR-Y’s custom board finally, but I haven’t gotten a chance to look at the data. Oddly enough, the memory core has been scrambled, instead of wiped. It’ll take a while before I can reassemble the data to any intelligible degree. Why would they just scramble it? It was pre-owned, so maybe they just didn’t want to mess with it’s personality. A full wipe would have turned that into a dream.

A new guy came in, a guy named Striker. He’s getting trained as a grenadier.

Magnetic weapons finally finished up, and plenty of new weapons to build. It’s been a fun issue to try and design mechanics to construct them. I’ve been fielded with a new Magnetic rifle. As soon as I get back that is.

I heard they’re going after Raymond Shen’s last known location. Damn, I wish I could see his workshop. I wonder what they will find there!

+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++  
Journal Entry 8#   
Name: Will 'Billy-Terror' Blazkivitz   
Date: 17th May 2035   
Operation: Spectral Stroke

Hitting ADVENT where it hurts and taking a few packed lunches on the return trip so the mess hall is stock, my kind of Op. What made it a cake walk was the fact SHEN managed to get eyes from the sky. Made our jobs easier.

First group we encounter was a a couple freak Celetids and a alien I heard off but never got a chance to fight till now, a Muton. Second group was a Priest, Purifier and Sniper. Last group was a normal Viper, ADVENT Warlock and a Lancer. Well, we had eyes so we started the part on our terms.

I honed my sights on the Muton ready to fire as Kebab tossed a pineapple at the Celetids and Muton causing them to scatter when the explosive hit them. Bloody Muton was tough as he tanked the grenade and even a round right into the chest, my toughest challenge yet. Well challenge accepted. Meanwhile Mr. E gave Rumble some aid while also trying to hit a Celetid, he missed and while I'd normally look down on that these bastards are harder to hit than you think. Luckily Chill our Skirmy put the freak down while Rumble shot-gunned the other in the... well would say face but it doesn't really want one. 

That left us with the Muton and Rodats tried flanking him but guess he didn't have a good shot, not to mention another patrol was nearby so he waited instead. The Muton fled, smart, outnumbered and outgunned I would've do the same. Well might be smart but he wasn't faster than a bullet as I aimed down my sights and blew the side of his face off. I never leave a challenge unfinished. One group down and two more to go, we regroup and push forward.

We set up near the supply train with me on top and wait to open up on the second group but two of three available shots missed but while Chill hit the Purifier, Rumble even though missing blasted his cover leaving the surprised ADVENT a juicy target now. One that Rodats took advantage as he climbed to a point to flank him then shoot him in the flame tank, poor bastard never knew what him in. 

I however gave the Priest a taste of pain from my sniper rifle allowing Rumble to clean up the bastard from our sights. Chill then joined me as her aim was to fire on the ADVENT Sniper critically wounding him to which Mr. E backed her up but gaining high ground to shoot down killing the sniper. Two down and one to go.

We set angles once again and Rodats pushes up, he comms me in to take aim but not on the patrol but in between them as I spy the Reaper tossing a claymore silently between the patrol's feet. I liked this guy's style, well far be it to me to be rude not taking the invite so I let this party start with a bang wounding the Warlock and Lancer. 

As the enemy scrambles to cover Rumble charges in towards the Viper and cleave into her chest with his sword putting the Alien down. Mr E sends his GREMLIN over to the Warlock for a little lethal shock therapy killing him and Chill demonstrated how good Skirmishers were with that grappling hook. She literally rips the Lancer out from his hidey-hole and pulls him to us getting in a slash but more importantly allowing Rodats a clean shot into the unlucky sod. All hostile put down and we get some goodies, even found the residence of a ADVENT lap dog. Too bad he wasn't home to meet my pistol, well a little extra raiding for a good cause wouldn't hurt. It's like unintentional charity on their part. Signing off, I look forward to a hot meal that doesn't take like dirt.

+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++

Firebrand's personal log - May 22nd 2035 (Entry #12)

Always good to have a mission without any wounded soldiers on board. High morale, definitely something we need around here. Of course, having the AO recon available helped a lot. But that didn't mean it was an easy mission. The squad definitely had a lot of work to do. But it was quick and efficient. Also damn ... that Muton weighs a ton. Kudos to those that helped me carrying that to the Ranger. I really wish ADVENT would stop bleeding in my cargo area though. Not really complaining though, if we keep beating them up.

After collecting some alien corpses and allowing Tygan to do his thing on them, the Commander decided to go investigate the peculiar signal that had thrown Rover and the Avenger systems off-balance. Shen is coming with the team ... I didn't even dare to question her presence there. She looks pretty determined and confident holding that rifle. I can only wish her and the team 'good luck' once we arrive to our destination.

Let's roll then.

Firebrand out.  
+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++  
DISPLAY LOG (ROV-R)  
WELCOME BACK!  
<0610:59 17.05.2035> begin PML-012  
<0611:01 17.05.2035> Initializing post-mission scan…  
<0611:04 17.05.2035> #Soldiers = 6/6  
<0612:11 17.05.2035> No medical treatment required.  
SGT. DIEGO ‘RUMBLE’ RAMIREZ  
CPL. STEPAN ‘KEBAB’ EVTUSHENKO

CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR PROMOTIONS  
<0621:33 17.05.2035> Initiating ADVENTSAT-11 downlink…  
<0621:45 17.05.2035> NOW STREAMING: ADVENTSat-11 Live Feed  
Good morning, Administrator LILY SHEN  
<0628:12 17.05.2035> Scan Mode: OPERATOR  
<0646:31 17.05.2035> Generating list of {ALL GROUND FACILITIES}…  
<0646:33 17.05.2035> WARNING: Possible data transfer hijack detected, disconnecting…  
<0646:34 17.05.2035> Manual override: Connection RESET  
<0646:35 17.05.2035> WARNING: Security breach detected, disconnecting…  
<0646:35 17.05.2035> Manual override: Connection RESET  
<0646:36 17.05.2035> Download cancelled.  
<0646:36 17.05.2035> AEROBRAKES: ENGAGED  
<0646:37 17.05.2035> WARNING: UNCONTROLLED DECELERATION MAY RESULT IN ATMOSPHERIC RE-ENTRY. Continue? Y/N_  
<0646:38 17.05.2035> Y  
<0647:02 17.05.2035> Connection lost with ADVENTSat-11  
+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++  
Personal logs of Dr. Steven "La Volpe" Fox  
May 12, 2035

That felt really good, getting a flawless mission like that. All with the help of that godsend of a satellite we managed to hold over the area. The other engineers and I were quick to alert the squad of enemy movements around the train, where they were at all times, and all of this helped to ensure that not one injury was suffered by our squad. Needless to say everyone was in a good mood, and Rumble, the ranger on the mission, assured us that if we used money at the bar, he would buy all of us engineers a round, thanking us for, as he put it, "Saving our asses with that old satellite!" I took the resultant shot of rum with a smile and gave a toast to the squad, thanking him and the rest of the squad for thinking of us "behind-the-scenes" guys. We may not get out there and shoot the aliens directly, but our efforts make sure they can do it better, and more efficiently. It was a good day, and it put me in a good mood when I had to go back to work, knowing that the guys out in the field respected and appreciated the work my colleagues and I do. 

May 19, 2035

So as I worked closer to clearing out this blasted room, I get an alert to head to Shen's quarters immediately. "All engineers on deck," was the call. I ran quickly down to the aft end of the ship, where Shen explained that the science team finally cracked mag weapons like the ones ADVENT uses. We were tasked, all day, to upgrade our rifles, shotguns, and the bullpup rifles that our Skirmisher uses to the magnetic variety. Thankfully, with all of us working in tandem, it took only a few hours, and after a couple days, it worked out for the best. The Commander wants to send a squad to this old, abandoned ADVENT factory that, from what I heard, caused a bit of a ruckus some time before I was recruited. Someone, or something got into the ship's systems. So much so that Shen insisted on going herself, taking ROV-R with her. I wished her the best, as I helped to arm the soldiers with the new mag weapons and showing them how they were used. One particular recruit, Homer Obsquros, had never been on a combat mission before, and was very eager to see some action. I admired his confidence, and gave him some special, aim-assisting tracer rounds that we picked up a while back from an ADVENT convoy. I wanted the guy to do well, as well as the rest of the team. I shook hands with all the soldiers before they left, and got back to work on clearing out that room. Another two weeks and it should be empty.

+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++  
War recount 9

Well gotta give credit where credits due, the engineers were able to keep an over passing Advent satellite on our side for the whole mission. Meaning that fog of war on the display table was gone and we saw exactly what Advent was doing. The soldiers in the field saw a giant lumbering monster of an alien called a Muton, but I was the only one who saw it as scary. The Commander and Bradford both have apparently fought these things since the first invasion. Even the lead on the janitorial staff had seen one. Something called Dadford has been going around since The Commander called Bradford dad. In other news BJ and the new Reaper Rodats seemed like they were being a little competitive, going shot for shot with each other. A known Advent collaborators house was checked out but all that was found was a smoke grenade. Magnusson is going through therapy or something in the infirmary to get rid of his fear of the Chosen (thought he was a little jumpy). Almost all weapons have been changed to mag weapons which according to Shen are on par with most of Advents gear. Shen is apparently going with a squad to that tower where someone got into the system (though some people are saying it could have been something but really they're just being paranoid). Some people are a little unsure that everyone's ready to do this but majority says we should, so no change in plans yet. All in all an eventful day.  
Signing out  
Jebediah Primm


	14. Ep 13 - Operation Lost Towers 1

**Ep 13-----Operation Lost Towers 1-------------------------------------------------------**  
DISPLAY LOG (ROV-R)  
Good evening, Administrator LILY SHEN  
<1756:15 21.05.2035> RUN: Ionic propulsor stress test sequence…  
Result summary:   
> Insufficient lift  
> Weight-bearing capacity exceeded

<1847:49 21.05.2035> RUN: Ionic propulsor stress test sequence…  
Result summary:  
> Unable to maintain stable flight path  
> Collision imminent – unable to correct course!  
> Stall induced  
> Emergency chute deployed

<1919:20 21.05.2035> RUN: Ionic propulsor stress test sequence…

Result summary:

> Insufficient thrust to maintain recommended horizontal velocity  
> Continuous operation likely to result overheating and accelerated wear

<1943:01 21.05.2035> RUN: Ionic propulsor stress test sequence…  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
(Repeated attempts by Chief Engineer Lily Shen to attach armor plating to ROV-R result in several more hours of similarly unsuccessful test logs, which have been omitted for brevity. The final propulsor test results are logged shortly just before 1am on 22 May, after which Lily Shen retired to bed.)  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Good morning, User SGT. MR ‘HUNTSMAN’ E

<0308:50 22.05.2035> WARNING: Overclocking will significantly increase battery consumption and generate excessive heat.

<0313:28 22.05.2035> RUN: Ionic propulsor stress test sequence…

Result summary:

> Test successful

Good morning, Administrator LILY SHEN

<0701:36 22.05.2035> RUN: Ionic propulsor stress test sequence…

Result summary:

> Test successful

<0710:24 22.05.2035> Installation of Electronic Warfare Suite (EWS) complete  
<0819:49 22.05.2035> Operational handover complete. ROV-R is now under manual control of Administrator LILY SHEN  
> Propulsors online  
> Sensors online  
> Weapons online  
> All systems nominal

ROV-R IS READY TO DEPLOY  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
(Despite the apparent sign in, multiple witnesses attest to the fact that Sgt. Mr ‘Huntsman’ E was recuperating from combat exhaustion in his bunk for the entire timeframe in which ROV-R’s engine was modified; and was never in the same room as the GREMLIN. In addition, physical access to ROV-R’s internal hardware is granted only to users with Administrator-level permissions and above.)

+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++  
War recount 10 part 1

Alright this is interesting, so the old tower where something hacked the Avenger from is an old Advent MEC factory or as I see it a Terminator factory. But I was wrong it was something not someone who hacked us (which means I owe some people money). It was an AI, named Julian at first it began acting like the psychotic brother to Shen. It kept sending old prototype MECS that would start self destructing sometimes feet away, other times right on top of people (apparently Kohlla's thing where she blocks incoming damage doesn't work with explosives). Either way the AI kept throwing MECS at the team until they individually left on an elevator. Then there were turrets and this weird green mist (which was eventually revealed to be deadly gas). One of the turrets made a almost impossible shot almost killing Homer where he stood. The AI kept talking and even quoted the speaker once, have I mentioned how much of a sarcastic [Crude comment deleted] this Julian thing is. Either way they then found this robot apparently called a spark made by Shen's dad, a video then played and everything seemed quiet and different. Like the shooting wasn't even a thing and it was just peace. But that Julian prick had to ruin that too. Commander Odd and Bradford seemed to be remembering old times before the AI butted in.  
[Log beyond normal space allowed splitting into two]  
[Running usual ending]  
Signing out  
Jebediah Primm


	15. Ep 14 - Operation Lost Towers 2

**Ep 14-----Operation Lost Towers 2------------------------------------------------------**  
Log 8: Zoey “Kohlla” Durand  
05/22/2035  
\--- Pre-Mission  
Today we’re deploying to go and chase down the unknown signal that ROV-R received a while back. Rumour has it that if the signal turns out to be what Central and the Commander think it is, then we’re going to go and retrieve the final project made by the great Raymond Shen. If he’s half as good as Lily is, then I expect what we’re going to find here will be a boon to our efforts. And we could definitely use all the help we can get right now. And in saying that, I’m worried that Shen is coming out will damage our work on this mission. Hopefully she’ll prove me wrong.  
\--- Post-Mission  
The moment we deployed, I could tell something was off. The ent was abandoned, and yet I could still feel the psionic resonance of Something. Someone. Julian. After everything in the last few weeks I thought that things couldn’t get worse, and now they have. Julian, a machine intelligence, built by humans and corrupted by ADVENT - a machine with sentience, a sentience I could feel and sense. But after Julian put himself into the Sectopod body, he lost some of that sentience; he lost some of himself. To say I’m disturbed would be putting it mildly, though I must admit that I feel more concerned if nothing else. Now that I know that the aliens can make sentient machines…. I will have to remain vigilant.

As for the mission itself, it started off well enough. We tore through most of the rusty, old MECs, and Shen and ROV-R certainly began to prove their worth, taking out entire groups of them at a time. There was a few times where our backs were up against the wall, but we pulled through, even if the MECs and Turrets seemed endless - in the end, they all fell apart just as easily as the rest of the Alien’s pets and toys did. I took a bit of damage, but it was nothing that could deter me, not whilst I was still fueled by the desire to see those killed by the Aliens avenged. The Commander saw otherwise however, and sent me up the lift shortly after.

Rumble healed me once the rest of the squad arrived, and so I gave him my thanks before we moved out once again. This time, Julian deployed his turrets, to try and deter us from our objective, but I wouldn’t let him. We pushed forward, and then we finally found what we were looking for. The SPARK, a mechanized combat unit. I’m glad to report that unlike Julian, it didn’t seem to give off a Psionic Signature of any kind. It proved invaluable moments later once Julian began to flood the chamber with poisonous gas, and once again we fought our way through to the next floor. As we did however, we were only confronted by more tin soldiers, and the Commander thought it an opportune time for me to test the Stun Strike technique he had requested me to learn some weeks back, though it did not work. I suppose I will have to train more. I took a few more shots, but once again, I was not deterred.

As Firebrand made her approach, Julian made his final play. I could feel his Psionic resonance, and it was close. It was strong. And of course, there he was. For a moment his resonance flickered, and grew weaker, and in only moments, he emerged from his hiding place - in the body of a giant mech. Based on what Odd and the squad had to say, the body he now inhabited is known as a “Sectopod”. The SPARK was certainly a useful ally in the fight, and it quickly began to shred through the Sectopod’s armour. But Julian’s sentience was also his downfall as it made him vulnerable to my blades, and as they tore through his shell with their power enhanced by the rage and agony that I felt, I picked away at his thoughts and left him stunned, giving my allies an opening - one they most certainly exploited. All of our efforts were focused on him, and the mission was over in a matter of minutes.

As I write this, I’m in the medbay recovering from my wounds, which I have a few of, though the doctors say it won’t be long until I’m cleaving through Aliens again. And I’m definitely looking forward to it.  
+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++  
Reapers Log 3:  
Operation: N/A  
May 23rd, 2035.  
Apparently there was another mission as soon as I finished writing my previous log. This time however, Shen went with them, which I found strange at first, until I looked at the mission feed.. 

Let me make this clear, while I never bothered to chat with Shen, or I should say, Lily, mostly because she’s always busy aiding the small team of engineers that we have, I would’ve never realized that Lily was the father of the chief engineer in the XCom project during the invasion, or that a very intelligent AI could be so jealous of her, though I don’t blame him, it’s been locked up in that site for about 2 decades. At the end of the mission, I saw the look on the soldiers faces, and I could tell that they aren’t going to be on missions for quite some time. Lily brought back this big robot that she calls, “Spark.” Though I heard some rumors later that she renamed it to Julian, and then she programmed it to have a nice, antagonistic voice to it. I love it. She claims that when the time comes and the order is given by Commander Odd, she will produce more in place of soldiers who are injured or mentally exhausted, like me for example.

I was also hearing rumors about myself as well. Mostly about my gender to say the least. Ever since I went on that Supply raid mission, there’s been some misconception about my gender throughout the Avenger. Even Zoey questioned it before she left with Lily. I told everyone who asked that I am a male, but some of them just laughed it off and started calling me a she again, probably as a joke at this rate.

Despite through all of that, I started to chat with some of the other soldiers who didn’t make a big deal about it. Mostly Natalya, who was the person I described in one of my previous logs as “Chill.” I wasn’t able to find much about her past, saying that she’s “Free from it.” That excuse, whether serious or not, had an impact on me because I can relate to her reasons. I asked her about those Advent Burgers, and she hasn’t even heard about them, and then she became curious herself about it. So now I have her helping me out with this case.

We asked other people on board the Avenger, with little to no sources to gain from them, until we asked Tygan about it. He started going crazy that he wasn’t the only one who’s obsessed with them. (Even though we weren’t, we’re just curious) He started rambling on about the quality, the taste, he even described as being the “best burger made by the aliens” which made us even more curious. When we asked him where we could find them, he stated that they could only be found in the Advent Cities, which was a bummer unless I go on a covert ops, which means I could sneak in disguised as a civilian to try them out.

With my investigation drawn to a close, I decided to do some target practice with my vector rifle. I heard that eventually. they’re going to start researching for more ways to incorporate magnetic technology into weapons besides being a standard rifle. I hope I get to try one out myself if they manage to improve the current weapon I have.

I think i’ll stop writing here for today, I still need to get my rest so that way i’ll be ready for the next mission. I hope that next time, i’ll get a promotion for my efforts. If posing on top of water like jesus isn’t enough, than I don’t know what it will take for me to get one.  
Rodats, out.

-End Of Log.

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Firebrand's personal log - May 22nd 2035 (Entry #13)

Robots and turrets and giant robots ... Oh my.

After I dropped off the squad, Shen included, I went back to my controls and turned on the feed as usual. The next ten minutes or so, all I heard was rants about exploding robots, some weird voice over the facility's Intercom and talk about Lily's old man, Raymond Shen. I remember him. Kind man. Such a shame we lost him so soon. But he left us his daughter, who is amazing. Both in the lab and outside of it, as it turns out. She performed really well during the mission.

But the magic moment happened again once the squad reached the roof and that giant machine walked in, blocking my access to the landing pad. Because, if there was any further need for proof ... Kohlla showed that she's absolutely fantastic. Armed with only her gauntlets, she charged in and somehow shut down the machine several times with her psionic blades, giving the rest of the squad time to blow it up. We got our own robot for all that trouble, Raymond Shen's creation. Might come in handy. His aim needs some improvement though, from what I hear from the other soldiers.

Anyway ... here's a tip of my hat for you, Kohlla. A Major now. We really need to have a little one-on-one chat. No, I am not going to tell her I have a crush on Major Badass. What do you think I am, stupid?

Firebrand out.  
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Personal logs of Dr. Steven Fox

Man, everyone was beat after that mission. Kholla was hurt, Shen was dog tired, as were most of the squad, and we got a new robot soldier to boot! Shen wasn't too keen on letting me take a look at it, but I think that's because it has sentimental value to her... it is her father's prototype, after all. Dr. Martz in the infirmary is going to be busy dealing with Kholla's and Homer's wounds, not to mention sheer exhaustion on the part of just about all the soldiers on that mission. I, on the other hand, am just going to get back to work on this room. Not much else to report from my end.  
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War recount 10 part 2  
[Part 2 running]  
After the video played and the AI started talking the Spark as it's called went out to turn on the vents and get rid of the gas. The AI seriously didn't shut it for the whole time and kept dumping MEC and turret alike down on the team. Commander Odd took a leap frog approach as he put it (very professional) to get to the elevators at the end of the hall. Kohlla took a shot but it just grazed her as she was keeping the MECS at bay. When everyone was out and on the roof they saw a giant robot, apparently called a Sectopod. According to Bradford these things are first invasion era stuff made more advanced. During the fight Kohlla was able to manually reset the thing with a few well placed hits. Giving her team the opening to go berserk on the thing. After everyone threw everything at Julian, it finally died. With that done everyone went home happy and in (mostly) the same degree they left in. Apparently the engineers were able to take some of Julian and put him in the new friendly Terminator. I don't know what we're scanning for as I'm tired but I'll ask later.  
Signing out  
Jebediah Primm

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DISPLAY LOG (ROV-R)  
<1103:43 22.05.2035> Operational handover complete. ROV-R is now operating autonomously  
<1103:45 22.05.2035> Connection reestablished with Avenger mainframe  
<1103:45 22.05.2035> begin PML-013  
<1103:46 22.05.2035> Low battery alert: 17%  
<1103:48 22.05.2035> Scan redundant. #Soldiers = 7/6  
<1103:50 22.05.2035> Medical alert: Shrapnel, Perforative trauma (gunshot)  
REQUESTING URGENT MEDICAL ASSISTANCE for CPL. HOMER ‘WARDER’ OBSQUROS

Location: SKYRANGER HELIPAD  
<1114:31 22.05.2035> Syncing combat GREMLIN units…  
<1115:25 22.05.2035> Sync complete.  
CHANGELOG:  
‘SPARK’ ally class added  
_  
_  
_  
CREATOR RAYMOND SHEN removed from roster  
<1115:25 22.05.2035> Low battery alert: 15%  
<1118:31 22.05.2035> Motor: OFF  
<1118:32 22.05.2035> Recharging…  
<1119:02 22.05.2035> Play: My Last Gift.avi  
<1119:14 22.05.2035> SLEEP MODE


	16. Ep 15 - Operation Steaming Sky

**Ep 15-----Operation Steaming Sky-------------------------------------------------------**  
Journal Entry 9#   
Name: Will 'Billy-Terror' Blazkivitz   
Date: 24th May 2035   
Operation: Steaming Sky

I'm going on record to say that this Op was weird, not the Op itself that went completely fine but it's the fact that we have seven-foot tall death machine with an attitude problem. Seriously I was very much tempted to shoot the oversized talking bucket of bolts but since it was a 'Squad mate' I refrained from my need to shoot it in the face, this time.

We touch down on a rooftop and find the VIP, some doctor but all that matters was that we kept him alive. Well, guess our drop made noise cause Judge stumbles upon a group on the same roof. One Purifier, a MEC and a stinking Flame Viper. Well, Powell decides to let their world crashing down as she blew them and the floor beneath them, the fall adding more wounds and even killing the purifier. I move up and get eyes on where they landed allowing Kebab to flank the MEC and Viper only to blow them up again, so much destruction, I loved it. The MEC was the only survivor but that didn't last long as I blew his circuits away with my mag pistol. Mr E and the SPARK set up over-watch as the rest regroup. But as we do, an uninvited comes to visit. The Chosen, well I heard big stories about her, time to see how well she does against me.

The group moves up keeping an eye out for that Assassin but she stumbled upon us, she tried to fire on us but missed terribly. First impressions, poor I must say. Kebab starts with a pineapple at her face, Judge runs down gaining a flanking shot then blast her. She's tough I'll give her that as the Assassin shrugs it off with a growl. The SPARK leaps down before releasing a hail of fire on the freak, I as well jump down to flank the purple-skinned cow and after two pistol shots, the bitch was starting to show blood. Powell joins in and manages to mulch up the Assassin killing her. Got to say, wasn't that impressed but I was shocked to hear her over the comms when 'dead'. Guess the stories held some truth then.

As the regroup reloads, SPARKY stumbles into a patrol like a big dumb slab of metal would right after a firefight. We pull back and set up a crossfire kill zone waiting for the ADVENT to come to us. An ADVENT Sniper comes in as Kebab and myself fire on him, bastard dodges my shot but that allow Kebab to get a better angle before ripping the hybrid freak in half with a hail of bullets. Powell and Mr E spot an approaching MEC, Powell lighting it up but unfortunately for Mr E the MEC react to Powell's shots and dodges in such a way that makes our Specialist miss.

SPARKY then fires on the MEC and our robots hit the mark while making witty remarks on 'The Battle of the Plates' well sorry pal I make the comments around here as I took out my pistol and blew the MEC away. Dumb fucking robots everywhere. Anyway one left to come and the rest set up another ambush. Unfortunately for the newly found Lancer that revealed itself died this day as Kebab, Powell and Mr E lit up the sucker overwhelming firepower. Another patrol down and it was time to move out towards the EVAC point.

We run into another patrol near the EVAC point this time consisting of a Trooper, Lancer and another Flame Viper. Well as I pick my targets SPARKY goes with the boom options sending a rocket into them killing the Trooper as well as wounding and exposing the Flame Viper. Pagenn, this one dedicated to you buddy. I look to the shell-shocked Flame Viper, call out “Hey how's your day?” and as she looked right at me I shoot blowing out her brains all over the rubble around her. Meanwhile, Judge charges in with the sword wounding him while Mr E sent in his GREMLIN to give out an electric charge. Double charge action. We push up to the EVAC grabbing from goodies on the way and haul arse out of there. Someone from debriefing calls us 'The Super B Squad' to which I remark stating “I'm grade A material, 'sir'.”

I was there from the beginning the bastard, I tell you no respect. All in all good OP as we killed the 'Legendary Assassin' and took SPARKY for a walk. Still tempted to shoot the damn thing but then Shen would get on my case.

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Firebrand's personal log - June 1st 2035 (Entry #14)

How did that old saying go? Yippi-ki-yay ... Right. Well, that's dedicated to Bitch #1, who had her ass handed to her by our B-Squad in the last mission, which was in Seattle. The team performed beautifully, well above expectations, the Spark included. It surely has a lot of sass left over from the AI at the Towers' facility. But hey, as long as it takes care of business, who cares?

We got ourselves a new Scientist from that mission. Then a sensor sweep from the Avenger revealed an Engineer, which we took on board. And the covert operations retrieved another one. Still a lot of wounded and tired soldiers, but they are recovering slowly but surely. Things are progressing along nicely after that rather rocky start. I even found myself smiling for a change the other day. No, I wasn't thinking about Major Kohlla ... Don't give me that look. No, I was thinking about my entire Avenger family.

Still though ... I miss Big Sky.

Server hacking device protection detail. Western U.S. ... Seattle again or different location? I'll get the details before take-off. But first I need to make sure the Skyranger is ready and then fire up the engines. Let's go, people.

Firebrand out.  
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DISPLAY LOG (ROV-R)  
<1957:09 24.05.2035> begin PML-014  
WELCOME BACK  
<1957:11 31.05.2035> Initializing post-mission scan…  
<1957:15 31.05.2035> #Soldiers = 6/6  
<1957:16 31.05.2035> No medical treatment required.  
ASP. JULIAN  
LT. MR ‘HUNTSMAN’ E

CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR PROMOTIONS  
<1957:51 31.05.2035> #Avenger Personnel (Scientist) = 1/0  
ASP. JULIAN IS DUE FOR REPAIRS IN THE WORKSHOP  
<1958:20 31.05.2035> Syncing combat GREMLIN units…  
<1958:29 31.05.2035> Sync complete.

CHANGELOG:  
Sucks to be you, JULIAN

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Reapers Log: 4  
May 31, 2035.  
Operation: N/A  
I didn’t go on the last mission because my mind is still not thinking straight. If I had another days rest, than I probably would’ve gone with the B team to make sure they didn’t get slaughtered by the aliens. I looked at the mission feed and found out that they did as well as an performance as I did and the squad I was with, making my presence kind of pointless. Apparently this very skilled humanoid that people call, “The Assassin.” Showed up, and then was basically Demolished with a lot of explosives. I hope that building owner that the squad landed on has homeowners insurance. Julian (The Spark) gave a very big performance on that mission was well. It dealt a lot of damage on the Assassin after the Grenade bombardment, and it’s weapon can pierce some armor as well. The mission went as smooth as the shadows. No injuries, but everyone's exhausted. 

I noticed that more than half of the current soldiers were hanging out at the bar. Some weren’t drinking, including Zoey, but Will was. At this rate, no one on board the Avenger will be ready to fight at all when the time comes. Fortunately, Odd recruited a couple of more soldiers in an attempt to reduce the tiredness ratio. Though I seriously doubt that they’ll be important in the long run. During the week, I decided to do some training once I felt ready to go on a mission again. 

When the Avenger landed, I did some free running on the terrain nearby, while also being careful not to get attention from nearby advent citizens. I also did some target practice from at least 50 feet away from me. While my marksmanship is not as good as Wills, it’s still above average compared with most people. I also got together with Zoey and Natalya, and we’ve h-

<>

Well i’ll be damned. Looks like i’ll have to cut this log short this time. Don’t worry, i’ll wrap up that thought as soon as I write my next log.  
Rodats, out.

-End Of Log.  
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Personal Log - Ilpo “Agent” Piipponen: 1  
Operation: N/A  
June 1, 2035.

Well that went well….

Attack to the Nordic Headquarters was going as planned. We infiltrate to the operations hall, hacked in to mainframe to shut it down and everything went to haywire. What the hell was that Sectopod doing there. It wiped out half of my squad from the get go. Needless to say we retreated from the scene. Luckily rest of the crew managed to escape.

When we returned to FSAO Vasili gave me a fax. I was requested to join in XCOM. Man this opportunity I wasn’t gonna pass. I re-packed my gear and head out to airstrip. 

Now ten hours later I’m sitting on my new bunk in the Avenger, the XCOM flying headquarters. If we could have this type of equipment in FSAO there wouldn’t be a single alien left in the Nordic. But this way I have a chance to save the whole world and my beloved Finland at same time.

But now my orders are to retrain myself to specialist. Specialist of what, that I don’t know but they gave me this humming and flying toaster that keeps following me. Hmm … It seems that we don’t have a common language yet. Maybe it’ll learn Finnish? It would certainly help me to control it better. But I need to name her better. Gremlin? Come on. Who on earth would call it a PEIKKO!!! Heh … Don’t worry little Peikko we’ll have a proper christening to you in Finnish way… We’ll get along just fine you’ll see … 

But now I’ll need to go, my training is continuing, hopefully I’ll get time to sleep for a bit soon, I’m shot ….

Agent Out

-End of log-  
***  
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Personal logs of Dr. Steven Fox

Well, Tygan is sure happy that we finally have a scientist on the team. We did have to send some soldiers out there to get him out of one of the city centers, but I'm sure he'll be a good help. Also, was impressed that the new SPARK unit did so well, even in his damaged state. Not to mention kicking that chosen Assassin's ass! Also, we got two more engineers on the team! The commander put one in charge of the Resistance Ring, and the other in charge of building the Power relay next to the room I'm clearing out. Anyway, Dr. Martz and I have been hanging out in between shifts, working on the room and helping in the infirmary, and she's been really cool to hang with, as well as Kholla and some of the specialists. But Martz, Kholla and I have the most to talk about, since the other engineers are kinda introverted. I think we've got a good thing going here...

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War recount 11

Alright I checked up on what happened with the scanning it wasn't anything special really, but someone did upgrade the HUD. The team that went out today consisted of the most unused soldiers that there is. The only soldier with a consistent amount of field time was BJ. Even with that against them and the fact that everyone called them the B team, even the Commander threw his hat in the ring. That was until they took down THE CHOSEN. Yeah that was about when The Super B Team name started going around (of course started by the Commander). The only thing I can say is that Julian and Heather's sass combined might be too much for the universe too handle. Another Advent collaborators house was found and a crate of alloys were taken. Other than all that the only interesting thing that occurred was that apparently the Commander had some computer troubles but that was about it. Oh yeah almost forgot there's a new recruit he seems like decent guy, I have no idea what he's saying at any point but he's nice.  
Signing out  
Jebediah Primm


	17. Ep 16 - Operation Driving Grave

**Ep 16-----Operation Driving Grave-------------------------------------------------------**  
Log 9: Zoey “Kohlla” Durand  
06/1/2035  
\--- Post Mission  
Operation Driving Grade was a success, and a personal victory for me just as much as it was for XCOM as a whole. I’ve been aching for a fight since the tower, for a chance to repay ADVENT for making the monstrosity that was Julian, for a chance to avenge Blacksky, and for a chance to avenge the lives lost at the Blacksite.

Not even minutes after we landed, we were already fast into the action. With Deathscope up front scouting for us, our first targets were easy to find. Some ADVENT troops, and an alien that I’ve only seen in the post-mission reports from operations that I wasn’t on. The troops call it a “Muton”, and supposedly they are the frontline of the Alien’s legions. With a single grenade, the Gunslinger was taken down, and with a slash of my blades, another of the Alien’s puppets met his end. The Commander was hesitant to let me engage the Muton, and so I prepared to parry from any other source while the squad took down the Muton.

Things were going well, until out of nowhere, our Skirmisher was blasted, and she almost perished in that very moment. Luckily, she had a medikit, and so any immediate concern for her health was put aside as we began our counter-attack. I handed the ADVENT Warlock, and his enhanced psionic energy was even more exhilarating to consume than the Alien’s other pets. After that, Odd opted to use a strategy that seemed… questionable at best, but it worked all the same. I suppose he had the confidence in my ability that I could do it, and I proved him right. The Commander moved me right into enemy territory, and whilst I tried to attack both the ADVENT Trooper and the Celatid, I was only able to strike and kill the latter. The Viper took ahold of Magnusson, but Shegardy took care of that matter with a single shot - and Magnusson repaid him in kind by annihilating the Trooper stood closest to him.

With only a handful of enemies remaining, I made a dash for the Celatid that had managed to escape my wrath earlier, and made my attack. My blades tore through it like nothing, as I tore away it’s thoughts with the tip of my shards, but I was unfortunate enough only to leave the damned creature in a critical state, rather than killing it outright. Though I suppose that I far preferred the thought of it suffering in agony to a quick death, and from cleaving through it’s emotions I know more certainly that it can feel pain - and I know even more conclusively that it felt a lot of pain in that single moment. However, the thought of letting it live was something that I would not abide by, and once I had my opening, I tore through it once more and drank it’s agonies in through my blades. And that was it, the mission was over. I’m sat in my bunk on the Avenger writing this out, and I’m finally glad after everything that has happened in the last month, we’re starting to win again - and doing so without conceding to some horrible truth of the Alien’s machinations.  
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Log: JT “Numbers” Stevens  
Date:06/08/2035  
Log entry 10

So I got back to some interesting turns of events. Now we have what looks like a recovered MEC in the engineering bay, with this GREMLIN-like headframe and some kind of assist droid. Apparently, it’s Raymond’s last creation. I can’t wait to talk to it.

Let’s see here… flawless mission with a scientist recruited, a couple rookies recruited, a couple new engineers, another well-off mission destroying a uplink signal, Chill got herself injured again (i really hope she doesn’t have a death-wish), we started hunting the assassin, and a new facility is under construction.

And now another resistance ring sends up its flag. Great. I guess I’ll just go check out the feeds. Don’t know why i'm so tired…

Numbers out  
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Reapers Log: 5  
June 1, 2035.  
Operation: Driving Grave  
This mission I went on was one pretty.. odd one, so to speak. No pun intended on Odd. It was me, Zoey, Natalya, “Al Shegary” who’s replacing Will for this mission, “Eternal” and “1x1”. We had to stop Advent forces from destroying a device before they do so, in a subway station of all places.

I ended up leading the way this time, on trail of forces who were most likely heading to the device. Unfortunately, We ended up losing sight on most of them, so Odd ordered me to place my claymore right in front of them, with 1x1s grenade following suit.  
Unfortunately, we ended up with some of them alive from our immediate ambush attack, so Zoey went in on the Stun Lancer and gave him the classic rend to the back, which had our presence noticed by nearby Advent forces. Odd was very hesitant on how to utilize Natalya properly. He eventually decided to have her gain some high ground in an attempt to get better shots on that muton. But little did we know, that there were more Advent forces that we got attention. We weren’t playing it safe anymore, it was now a fight to the death. Eternal managed to kill the Muton while Natalya was concerned about the Advent forces advancing to her position.

One of them tried to land a shot on Zoey, but she simply parried against it, like she always does. One of the soldiers in the back actually managed to land a flanking shot against Natalya, and it hit hard. I think she’s lucky to be alive from surviving a series of bullets hitting the back of her skin. This is when things started to be rather.. you know. Al tried to land a shot, he missed. I attempted to shoot the warlock, and that also missed. It was like our accuracy is suffering, and our luck is running as dry as a desert. 

Eternal attempted to slice the viper's body in 2, but he didn’t reach the vital organs with his slash. Zoey tagged behind him to slice the warlock in 2, and then sliced the remaining soldier as soon as he attempted to get away from her reach. The viper decided to cuddle with Eternal, crushing some of his bones from her embrace. While I thought of it as kind of cute, I know in all reality she’s trying to crush him to death until he starts puking out his vital organs, so I pointed my gun at the viper.. until my grasp on the trigger slipped and I ended up shooting above his head. What the hell? Even odd was kind of disappointed at me for my performance so far. Then again, Al isn’t it having it easy either. He missed a similar shot that I did before that. Luckily he redeemed himself by killing the target that I was supposed to kill. When Connor was unbounded, he immediately grabbed his shotgun and shot at the remaining soldier with perfect execution. Natalya attempted to grapple towards the other celatid to finish it off, but it didn’t hook on that pole, so 1x1 decided to spray and pray before it could do anything rash, and it surprisingly worked.

With the mission drawing to a close, I was finally given my promotion. Well deserved indeed, considering the pose I spent on my previous mission. I was satisfied on the way home, even though some others weren’t so much due to the amount of misses we had to deal with. Natalya is going to be in the infirmary for a couple of weeks, along with Eternal as well.

I’ve realized that my performance on that mission was rather kind of bad. Maybe I needed more rest than I thought. It didn’t matter though, because I was chatting with Lily later after the mission, and she gave me this manual about volatile engineering. I was reading it out of boredom and found out that explosive containers, no matter what they are or what they’re made from, if shot from the right angle, can explode more deadly due to chemical reactions. I should incorporate this into my future tactics, you never know when I might need to blow up some shit.

I’ve heard also that the avatar project is nearing completion, which is bringing tense throughout the Avenger. Some are starting to speculate what would happen if the Avatar Project is completed. Would the aliens create the ultimate weapon of destruction that would wipe out all the humans on Earth? Will they create one of their greatest genetically modified aliens that we would have no chance to counter against? Who knows, they are all rumors anyway, but i’m leaning towards the latter because the word, “Avatar”, kind of gives away what it’s about.

This log that i’m writing is starting to get longer than I had anticipated, so i’ll leave it off here for now. I should try and get Lily to lend me some explosives so I can learn the best way to set explosives off in an deadly, but beautiful way.  
-Rodats, Out.

 

P.S: That thing I was talking about from the previous log was basically me chatting with Zoey and Natalya, and how their factions kind of don't like to get along with each other for.. personal reasons.  
-End Of Log.  
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Firebrand's personal log - June 8th 2035 (Entry #15)

Subway tunnels and sewers. Not a place for the Skyranger, obviously. But it's clearly a place where one could find alien and ADVENT scum. Lots of missed shots from favorable positions again. The Reaper, included. Maybe I should schedule that shooting range visit after all. If they start doing it again, I will do just that. With the Commander's approval, of course. Anyway, The Major did it again, slicing and dicing left and right. She took out half of the enemies, the rest of the squad doing clean up duty pretty much.

After securing all the items from the Supply Drop, we were off to try and locate a scientist. We are kinda missing those in the lab and Tygan keeps complaining about it. And the lack of ADVENT burgers. I swear, that man has made an obsession over those things. Right ... More intel on the Bitch's stronghold location. Developments on weapons. And a new recruit ... A female Icelandic poker player with a personal beef with ADVENT and aliens. Family killed. Heard that so many times ... Damn. Anyway, welcome aboard, Spades!

Damn ... Resistance camp under attack. Time to roll. No, Tygan, I won't stop for those damned burgers. I am not putting the Ranger in danger for that. Order catering or something.

Firebrand out.  
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DISPLAY LOG (ROV-R)  
<0323:16 01.06.2035> begin PML-015  
<0324:22 01.06.2035> Applying post-combat footage analysis…  
#Soldiers =6/6  
IF Civilians =0, THEN Faceless =0  
Post-mission Faceless scanning redundant.  
All Perforative trauma (gunshot) are deemed medical EMERGENCIES.  
REQUESTING URGENT MEDICAL ASSISTANCE for SGT. NATALYA ‘CHILL’ VINTERMORGON

Location: SKYRANGER HELIPAD  
SGT. CONNOR ‘ETERNAL’ MAGNUSSON  
PLEASE REPORT TO THE INFIRMARY IMMEDIATELY  
<0325:05 01.06.2035> ?STATUS CPL. ALEX ‘RODATS’ DEATHSCOPE  
<0325:05 01.06.2035> ?STATUS CPL. HAMAD ‘AL SHEGARDY’ BN GREEN  
<0325:06 01.06.2035> ?STATUS CPL. HEATHER ‘1 X 1’ POWELL

(From this mission onward, ROV-R implements increasingly streamlined predictive analyses to combat footage instead of scanning routinely; allowing first responders to anticipate gravely wounded soldiers before their return.  
The status inquiries for Cpl. Alex Deathscope, Cpl. Hamad bn Green and Cpl. Heather Powell still stand out as unusual in context as none of these individuals were wounded during this mission. ROV-R may have recognized their lower rank compared to the two casualties and predicted a higher likelihood of injury for the then-Squaddies; then enquired their status to attempt confirmation of this unlikely result.  
None of them were Specialists with personalized GREMLIN access, so none of them could have answered. ROV-R has learned to ask rhetorical questions.)

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Personal Log - Ilpo “Agent” Piipponen: 2  
Operation: N/A  
June 8, 2035.

“...By the Father, the son and the Holy Spirit I bless you and name you to Isabel”.   
Priest of the ship just blessed Isabel. Baptism would have been too much, since she is just a “flying toaster” so to speak, but I can’t call my partner a Peikko still…

Shen promised to change her callsign to ISB-L accordingly. I will take her there after I finish this log. 

Oh by the way. We finished our training today. It was intense but I think Isabel and I understand now ourselves. We established a command language for ourselves and naturally it’s Finnish. In the field there is no time to waste to translations and “Isa” learned Finnish commands fast. So there is no lag on our communications now.

Crew came back from mission and it apparently went well. Don’t know much of it since I haven’t have time to check mission logs. Took a few beers with fellows at the bar but that’s about that. I’ve spend my time mostly with “Isa”

I think the next missions on now, but there is no need for us right now, maybe next time. Hmm … Have Commander read my bio at all?? My skills could be in good use in resistance missions. Got to check that right away … Tule Isabel!

Agent out

-End of log-  
***  
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Damon Nights’ Audio Log: June 1st, 2035  
I found them! I finally found XCOM! I got a lead tipping me off as to one of two place that XCOM operatives might have been heading to, and I’m so glad I headed over to the right one! I found them outside an abandoned subway station, though several of them were wounded so I offered to help them back to their pick-up zone. The operatives were grateful for my help, though a bit suspicious at first. I told them how I had been searching for XCOM for a year or so now due to Advent’s attack on my lab. One of the soldiers said they would vouch for anyone with a passion for taking down the enemy menace, and promised that they would try to get me a spot in their roster for recruitment.  
Well, it’s official, I’m one of the two newest members to XCOM! Though, not exactly as I had hoped. I was looking forward to training as a Specialist, working with my own G.R.E.M.L.I.N., putting my medical expertise to work in the field, but I guess that wasn’t meant to be. The Commander thought my talents would be better put elsewhere. With all my technical and medical knowledge, The Commander thought I would be better off working as an Engineer, helping create new technologies and building new facilities for XCOM. And you know what? I actually don’t regret the Commander’s decision. Not only am I enjoying my work, but I was instated as one of XCOM’s head Engineers, second only to the great Shen herself! Currently I’m the head of an excavation project in the Avenger, so let’s hope my first project becomes a huge success!  
P.S. I hope Chloe is safe somewhere, I know she thinks I that I died in the raid, but I hope that she doesn’t give up hope yet. Who knows, maybe she will find her own way to XCOM?

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War recount 12

All right this mission was a success. The team had to go into the sewers to defend a relay being attacked by Advent. The only real terror of this mission was a sickly greenish, grey Muton (in case the original isn't terrifying enough) but it was dealt with accordingly. Chill, Rodats, and Kohlla went out this mission meaning all the unique and coolest members of XCOM went out to show Advent who they're dealing with. Magnusson had some fun this mission getting up nice and close with a Viper as it wrapped him up, but Al Shegardy was able to get him out. Magnusson was able to perform magic with his shotgun when the HUD glitched out making it seem as though he aimed upwards and the shot still hit (like I said magic). We got a new recruit she's decent, doesn't were a lot of armor and is a little distant and cold, but good at cards though, she cleaned house with us (I'm gonna be a little short on cash for a while). The next mission is gonna be a retaliation, why does Advent have to attack civilians and refugees. They can fight us anywhere anytime, get mopped the floor with, and be such wimps to attack helpless people just since they're but hurt. It's just wrong.  
Signing out  
Jebediah Primm


	18. Ep 17 - Operation Hellish Wolf

**Ep 17-----Operation Hellish Wolf---------------------------------------------------------**  
Journal Entry 10#   
Name: Will 'Billy-Terror' Blazkivitz   
Date: 8th June 2035   
Operation: Hellish Wolf

Another day another rescue mission, ADVENT trying to keep the pressure on us while their little doom clock ticks away. Well as Command deals with that boatload of arse we'll swoop down and be heroes in the meantime. Working with the SPARK Julian again, great, least had Rodats, Doc, Rumble and Mr E to work with keeping an eye on the damn robot. 

Rodats pushes up and spies two groups, some damn Bio ADVENT patrol of two consisting of a General and Trooper while to the side was a Muton Berserker with a couple Sectoids of some kind. I thought the normal Mutons were big then this big Mama comes along. The squad set up an ambush as we hear the sounds of civilians dying in a building in front of us, the Bio Patrol comes into sight and Mr E, Doc and Rumble fire upon them as they try to scramble to cover. The General manages to do so but his bodyguard doesn't as the robots guns him down, least this walking scrape iron scarecrow is good for something at times. Either way, party time started and I let like serving hors-d'oeuvres. 

Doc pushes up and as he loads a grenade in his launcher the Berserker and Sectoids spot us, the hulking Alien charges forward while the Sectoids take cover. The SPARK seems to recognise the threat as the robot charges up and proceeds to attack, letting loose a rocket wounding the Sectoids as well as obliterating their cover before laying down a hail of fire on the Berserker. Doc sees this chance and turns his aim towards the now flanked group as he lets loose his grenade, killing one Sectoid while seriously crippling the other and harming the Berserker even more. 

Meanwhile, I took this chance to flank the crippled Sectoid and with my mag pistol put him out of his misery and sent to whatever god he had, I gave it as you might call it, a religious experience. Mr E pulls back and turns to Doc to focus on the Berserker, guess those two became best friends as Doc listens and lays out the surprising fire on the alien bitch, smart. Rumble uses the walking metal statue as cover before firing a round into the Berserker, still up and now she was pissed.

The Berserker charges Doc even though more rounds shred into his flesh but the cannon fire was enough to throw off its wild swing just missing Doc. The General decides to take better cover and call in reinforcements while we get the screams of dead civilians. Bastards wanted to hold us up. Rumble wasn't having any of it as he charged up to the General, flanked him and point blank shot the chest. The SPARK helps out Doc blasting away the Berserker but as Doc pushed up to flank the General he finds out he has no more rounds loaded. Rodats sees this and decides to help by putting a round into the General from the shadows without revealing myself while I move to the rooftops trying to get a better angle on the bastard. Not needed as Mr E just sends in his GREMLIN and with one little shock the General falls. Doc rushes over to collect some Intel they may have before the squad regroups. There was death going on ahead and now a drop of troopers coming in, things were heating up.

Well, I spied one Trooper making a mistake, you don't need line of sight when you have a high powered gauss sniper. He paid the price as I aimed about just where he hid and shot through his cover, I showed the squad how you did it right while stating that was left handed. Rodats though just pressed on flanking the other Trooper and killed him outright, again not revealing himself since the only person that would've seen him was dead now. With those Bios dead the Squad pushes up and finds more Sectoids with another Berserker.

As they go into cover Rodats gets into a hidden spot and aims at the Sectoid, or so I thought as he hits a fuel line and destroy the Sectoid with a explosion. I really dig this guy's style. Meanwhile, Rumble and the SPARK pour shots into the Berserker and I shoot the now non living Sectoid in the back, for being psychic they sure are dumb not learning from other's mistakes. Doc and Mr E aid the SPARK as Doc suppresses the Berserker like the last one and Mr E sends his GREMLIN to bolster the SPARKS defences. 

Just as the Berserker charges and misses the SPARK a Faceless makes itself to us right nearby. The SPARK, Rumble and I combine our firepower to put down the Berserker while Mr E and Doc work together to kill the Faceless. Heh, 'Job Hazard' my arse am I right? Anyway, it was looking good for now but we weren't done, we regroup but unfortunately we spy civvies dying as another Berserker finds us this time escorted by a ADVENT Duellist and Purifier.

Rodats though spies a chance though and shots missing them, but intentionally as he hits a fuel line of a car and blows up the Purifier while also seriously wounding the Berserker. The SPARK charges forward focusing on the Berserker with Rumble backing it up while Doc and Mr E combine their skill sets to take down the Duellist, using a combination of a grenade and GREMLIN shock killing the hybrid dead. I however, jump down to get a better angle on the Berserker and with a remark stating that she should keep her hands and feet in the car at all times, (as a car seriously hurt the bitch, witty right?) I finish the freak with one last shot of my Mag pistol. We thought it all over, till we heard the sounds of a changing faceless. Always one hiding.

The Alien makes itself known only for the SPARK and Rumble top put it down, Central gives us the all clear rescue complete. We were so badass one of the resistance fighters came to us volunteering to join us. Well, why not? More meat for this grinder is all I can say? We were given a hero's farewell as we headed back to the Avenger. Feels good saving the world and being awesome. Singing off.

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Reapers Log: 6  
June 8, 2035.  
Operation: Hellish Wolf

We were tasked with dealing a retaliation mission from Advent. It was me, “Rumble”, “Huntsman”, Will, “Doc”, (Which is ironic because he’s a heavy weapons expert, not a medic)  
And Julian. It will be my first time seeing what Julian is capable of doing on the battlefield in person, and not from those mission feeds.

When we arrived on the Haven, I immediately scouted ahead to find some aliens. It was those troopers, but this time they had a green color on their armor instead of red. There was also these huge, monstrous aliens called, “Berserkers.” as well. Our engagement was, mediocre. We ended up playing defensive when they noticed our presence here, with bullets flying everywhere from our side, but most of them flew past their targets. Meanwhile, Odd tasked me to escort the civilians out of the haven before things get too wild. I managed to get a couple out of there, but I realized that the squad is starting to lose some ground, so I took a couple of snapshots at the aliens, all while staying in concealment. I was truly with the shadows on this mission.

I then started to use my knowledge that Shen gave me to give the aliens a gift, an explosive gift. I managed to explode some of the ruined vehicles that the aliens were taking cover on, as most of them perish under my skills. I sure put on a good light show.

The rest of the squad did pretty good as well. Julian specifically. He drained all of his bullets into those berserkers as they perished before him. Doc also provided covering fire over Julian so the Berserker kept missing its target. 

Obviously, there were faceless around the haven, so we hunted them down and then we went home once most of the fires were put out and the civilians started rebuilding what was burned to the ground.

Oh, and we also took along this gal that wanted to fight like us, so she boarded the Skyranger with joy. At least it made the mood brighter than ever on the way back to the Avenger.

Unfortunately, I didn’t receive a promotion, despite my great performance and effort this mission.

It was also announced that the Avatar Project is in its final phases, and it caused a lot of concern throughout the Avenger. I could tell that Odd is very stressed out about the current situation we were in. If we don’t do anything to delay the avatar project any further, than it will be completed, than before we know it, the XCom project will fall once again.

On the bright side, Zoey is also now officially a Colonel, in a record period of time. When I look at her, I could sense her psionic energy is filled with more power than the first time I met her gauntlets with them. I can’t wait to see how she improved, and what she is now capable of doing.

Odd has also decided to start nicknaming of our weapons so that way soldiers won’t accidentally grab another's weapon when they deploy on another mission. Mine was called DeathScope, not to my surprise. I agree that it fits with the class i’m in.

I should keep learning new skills, like Zoey was doing on her Covert Ops. I want to become as strong as her. Not in raw psionic energy, but in skill. I should also ask her if she tried out those Advent Burgers yet, I still want to learn more about it. But it will take time, and effort to get as strong as her. I am more than willing to put in the effort, but I know that it will take time, and patience...

...And those factors is what makes me part of the Reapers.

-End Of Log  
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Firebrand's personal log - June 23rd 2035 (Entry #16)

Retaliation mission went well. Even with those huge damned beasts that were killing innocent civilians. Berserkers ... To be honest, they're more intimidating than the Mutons. But nothing that a few well-placed shots can't take care of. Well, more than a few ... But yeah, the squad did well. The Unofficial Morale Officer (that's me) is proud of them. Go Team!

Back to the Avenger ... The Commander seems seriously scatter-brained, with that Avatar progress ticker going nuts a few days ago. He really needs to take a few deep breaths and focus. Otherwise, I'll seriously ask Kohlla ... Colonel now, by the way. Congratulations. Anyway, I was saying I'll ask Kohlla to psionically slap him or something. Because if he doesn't get his shit together, we will be in very deep shit. He can get it done. The only one that can get it done. If he can't ... well, it's been nice knowing you, Planet Earth. Might as well look to steal a ride to the next star system or something. I'll drive.

All the frenzy of activity around the Avenger got halted by another mission alarm. Psionic transmitter sabotage ... Somewhere in the Eastern US. Coordinates being sent in as we speak. Right ... Let's go to work, Menace 1-5. Maybe the Commander will recompose his thoughts by the time we get back.

Firebrand out.  
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DISPLAY LOG (ROV-R)  
<1644:45 08.06.2035> begin PML-016  
<1644:46 08.06.2035> Initializing post-mission scan…  
<1645:01 08.06.2035> #Soldiers =7/6  
<1645:02 08.06.2035> No medical treatment required.  
LT. WILL ‘BILLYTERROR’ BLAZKIVITZ  
KNT. JULIAN

CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR PROMOTIONS

Good afternoon, Administrator LILY SHEN

<1830:21 08.06.2035> Updating autonomous digital intrusion fail-secure protocol…  
<1913:19 08.06.2035> Update complete.

ROV-R will !ALERT Administrator LILY SHEN and SHUTDOWN in event of attempted or successful digital intrusion if UNAUTHORIZED USER is attacking remotely.

ROV-R will !ALERT Administrator LILY SHEN and respond with COMBAT PROTOCOL if UNAUTHORIZED USER is physically accessible.

ROV-R will initialize CAPACITOR DISCHARGE if COMBAT PROTOCOL fails to incapacitate UNAUTHORIZED USER and allies are not in area of effect.

ROV-R will disable temperature shutoff and SELF-DESTRUCT by overclocking if COMBAT PROTOCOL fails to incapacitate UNAUTHORIZED USER or if allies are in area of effect.

IFF definition of KNT. JULIAN CHANGE to UNAUTHORIZED USER if KNT. JULIAN attempts digital intrusion of ROV-R.

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Personal Log - Ilpo “Agent” Piipponen: 3  
Operation: Combat Preparedness (Covert Action)  
June 23, 2035.

We’re just back in. Maybe Commander understood me afterall.

I was called to Resistance ring office and I was assigned to, what they call a covert op, but I call a training mission. Anyways me and Major Durant spend 10 days at Skirmishers hideout learning new combat skills. Man, they do have straightforward fighting strategy. That works for them and Major Durant, but it was a full time work for me, trying to keep up with Durant. It seems that it went fine. At least she didn’t say anything, but I haven’t quite figured out these Templars yet. They seem cool though.

Hopefully I can work with resistance ring again. But it seems that Commander send Arnadottir this time to field. She’ll do fine I just know it.

Anyways it’s been a long day and I’m beat. What do you say “Isa”, should we rest a bit? I know I do at least.

Agent out

-End of log-  
***  
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Personal logs of Dr Steven Fox

June 8, 2035

I'm glad the team managed to save a lot of people on that resistance haven. It wasn't the haven I remember, but nonetheless, saved lives are saved lives, so I'm happy. 

The people I've been talking to have been getting restless... according to Kholla, the Intel is telling us that the aliens avatar project is close to getting done, and a number of people are concerned that the commander isn't doing enough to slow them down... apparently we need to just really book it to western Africa to get to one of our facilities, but some aren't sure we can do it in time... And I just hope I can finish the proving ground in time to make a difference.

...

Well, scratch that, then. The commander wants to build up the Resistance Ring, so after he sent Kholla on another covert action to get a promotion, he put me in the Power relay, and Shen is going to take over building up the proving ground. Well, at least in doing something that's not going to be temporary. I can manage to squeeze out some more power from this thing, just need to calibrate it every now and again. I think I could get used to this! It might seem like a boring position to others, but I like to look at it as one of the most important positions for an engineer. I mean, without me there, how could we build new facilities? Especially that upgrade to the Resistance Ring the commander was really hankering for, and whatever else gets built in those rooms the others are clearing out. Plus, with Dr Martz having relatively little to do in the infirmary what with the soldiers not coming back wounded from that last mission, we've had time to get to know each other a little better, and she sometimes comes down to the relay to say hi and chat while I work.

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War recount 13

So just to begin the Avatar clock is going meaning we could fail at what we've all tried so hard, sacrificed so much to achieve. it's a little late right now since anyone without a specific job is just helping out wherever and whenever. I did what I could to help and everyone is a little on edge, even the Commander has been a little scatterbrained. But nonetheless the mission was a success (we even got a new recruit). A new monstrosity of Advent’s showed up called the Berserker, it didn't have a gun and kept charging our soldiers. Other than that there were two faceless who didn't prove a major threat, but intimidating either way. BJ was able to make a shot through a tent, which was quite impressive and Rodats was able to get a few refugees out of the area before the conflict got them too. If our entire existence wasn't being threatened and everyone wasn't working, morale would actually be playing pretty high right about now.  
Signing out  
Jebediah Primm


	19. Ep 18 - Operation Bone Steed

**Ep 18-----Operation Bone Steed---------------------------------------------------------**  
Reapers Log: 7  
June 23, 2035.  
Operation: Bone Steed.  
The next mission I was assigned on was to plant a C4 on a psionic transmitter device in a subway station, so that way Advent will put it’s resources into trying to stabilize the psionic network instead of doing whatever project they planned to do. Commander Odd didn’t want to put in the intel to find out. On this mission, it was me, “E”, Natalya, Zoey, Will, and “Kebab.” If I recall I think he was with me on one of my first missions, I don’t know. I usually don’t keep track who exactly was with me on those kinds of events unless they were memorable, like Raven.. Poor guy. I should probably learn his full name so I won’t feel like a douche about it.

Once again, I led the group for the first part of the mission, until we find a pod of Advent Forces. This time, Zoey was the one to take the initiative, as she went in to engage the enemy. When she sliced her target with her signature move, we all noticed that the actual slice itself penetrated through and went through the targets behind it, like it was some kind of psionic crescent wave.

With the enemy disoriented and scrambling to find cover, we attempted to engage them with the element of surprise at our side. When we were done dealing with that group, one of the patrols noticed us, and engaged on us before we had the time to get into better positions to deal with the ongoing threat. The Purifier that was with them set E on fire, which made him panic and made him run into the heart of it. Fortunately, he quickly got control of himself and went out of the inferno.

Meanwhile, I was doing some sneaking around the battlefield while the main squad engaged the task at hand. I discovered where the transmitter device was, which was guarded by a bunch of non-advent foes. Vipers, Spectres, (which were basically like nanobots that are grouped together to look like a humanoid) and this 1 single Advent shielder.

Apparently, Odd has been struggling to think of the best tactics to engage the forces lately. He’s been ordering Zoey to be very aggressive, and that costed her when some vipers managed to shoot at her twice when she wasn’t paying attention. I think that mishap must’ve somehow manifested into her personality. She didn’t have this cocky look on her face anymore on the way back to the Avenger. Then again, I don’t think anyone would’ve had a cocky look on their face when their life was almost ended by the Aliens. I also found that she’s going to be in the infirmary for quite some time, and the doctors treating her there wouldn’t let me visit her until she completely recovers, mentally and physically. I’ve also gotten yet another promotion. I’m slowly catching up to Zoey and rest of the main squad since my late arrival. 

I’ve also talked with Lily once again. Ever since she gave me that volatile explosive book, (Can’t remember the actual title for the life of me. Need to find it after I write this log) I’ve been starting to hang out with her more. I usually don’t try to bring up what happened during the end of may, because I fear that it might gave her some kind of attitude towards me, which is the last thing I want to do. I checked out what she’s been doing with Julian, apparently trying to improve it’s aim system so it will miss less often then the soldiers on the battlefield. Eventually, I asked her if she could improve my claymores. She accepted, but only if I could do some “voluntary” work in the facilities. I was hesitant at first, but I realized that the engineers are trying to push their bodies to the limit trying to get these facilities built on time so Odd can worry more about hunting Alien facilities down more than anything. Plus, if she improves my claymores, I might be somewhat more useful when it comes to setting up ambushes, so I accepted, costing my energy for the night, while getting better equipment.

In fact, I think I’ll end this log right now. I need to get my sleep for the next mission.  
Rodats, out.

-End Of Log.  
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Log 10: Zoey “Kohlla” Durand  
06/23/2035  
\--- Post Mission  
The mission was off to a mixed start. We quickly crossed paths with the aliens, and one of their new toys. There was a pair of Vipers, similar to the ones that killed Darksky, but they were of a less powerful genetic strain. Alongside them, was a new Alien I’ve never seen before, one that Tygan identified as the “Spectre”, a robot made up of tiny nanodrones. The Commander sent me straight into the fray, and whilst it didn’t score any kills straight away, both my Shard Gauntlets and new “Arc Wave” ability began to do some work on the alien scum. Unlike when I fought Julian, this new Spectre alien didn’t have any sentience, something that I was glad to discover. And whilst striking it didn’t let me feed on it’s emotions, much in the way that attacking Julian or any other alien had, the Arc Wave let me feel what the Vipers were thinking as it struck them. Both were quite surprised, though one reacted more fearfully than the other - which quickly became something that I could’ve seen, even without my psionic powers as it ran towards me - and met its end at my blades as a result. I felt empowered by the creature’s agony, and then tried to make it so that the Spectre met a similar fate, though it’s unique construction meant that even as I cleaved through the nanobots, it did little to the machine in the long run. Luckily for me, the rest of the squad took it out anyway.

I quickly found myself having to hold my ground against the last remaining Viper, though I found my attempts to do so to be inadequate at best. I blocked it’s tongue, but as a result the damn thing poisoned me. I don’t know how I didn’t see that coming, and I ended up paying for it as it’s poison spit began to course through my veins. To add to the problem, the Viper called some it’s ADVENT pets to it’s aid, though they didn’t last long thanks to the efforts of the rest of the squad. It made me happy to see that Blazkivitz was finally seeing some proper use after all the time we had spent on separate missions, though my joy was mitigated by the poison that was burning my body from the inside out at the time.

Things seemed to be going as smoothly as they could be, aside from my poisoned state, though I didn’t much for it. It hurt like hell but I wasn’t going to let it take control of me. Everything seemed to get worse once the Purifier struck Huntsman with a jet of flame, sending him into a panic. To make matters even worse than that, the wall of flame left in the wake of the Purifier’s attack meant that I couldn’t do much. Will had it under control though, and with a precision strike, he took out the Purifier and his backpack in a burst of flame that engulfed both the Purifier and his buddy - though the latter wasn’t finished yet. Huntsman managed to knock some sense back into himself and healed me, and so the rest of the squad moved up as the Purifier turned tail and fled. My body still screamed in pain from the effects of the poison, though I managed to stay strong. 

By now, the objective was in sight, as were those guarding it. Another pair of Vipers and one of the Spectres, but we already found ourselves in more immediate trouble. A Faceless had finally come out of hiding. I charged right for the cowardly figure of clay, though it was yet to fall. As I tore through it’s thoughts I barely felt the creature’s pain, let alone any emotions. The damn thing was dumber than even some of the animals that I’ve met out in the wilds, and was almost as mindless as any single of the creatures that comprise the Lost hordes. Even then, I was still eager to tear it apart, and using the Bladestorm reflex technique I got in another hit, before parrying and delivering my final strike. The Faceless fell to the ground, lifeless, but still with the similar level of mental activity it had when it was alive - and that is to say that it had none.

The objective was right ahead of us now, as were our opponents - and in addition to the Vipers and Spectre, yet another Faceless joined them as well as the ADVENT Shieldbearer that had run from us before. The Commander sent me right into the middle of the fray, cleaving through the Alien’s pet and striking the rest with my Arc wave, and whilst I felt the agonies of all of the organics that I struck, I took no lives. That was until the Shieldbearer was foolish enough to try and flee again, but this time I refused to let him do so, and cut him down in a storm of blades, drinking in his fear and pain - and I almost couldn’t tell which was the more dominant feeling that the Shieldbearer felt in his final moments. Once again however, right as things seemed to be going our way, they very quickly weren’t. Huntsman and Kebab were poisoned, and unable to parry, I was struck by one of the Viper’s rifles and a claw from the Faceless. To say I was furious is an understatement, and I relished the chance to attack both of the Vipers, tearing through the thoughts of both and feeling their agony and anguish. Deathscope and Natalya handled the Faceless, which left me to tear through the remaining Vipers. One of them got a lucky shot on me, but the damage that I dealt back to them as a result easily dwarfed what they had done to me. I tore through both of them like they were nothing, because to me, they are nothing. And to feel their suffering in their final moments, in the moments that they knew their lives were over, in the moments that they knew I was the one who was to kill them, was nothing short of invigorating.

Kebab planted the bomb, and we were wheels up in a matter of minutes. The doctors quickly rushed me to the medbay, even though I insisted that for the most part, I was fine, or that I felt fine. But I let them take me anyway, and it turns out that three plasma blasts, poison and being hit with the force of a being the size of a one story building leaves more than a mark. Still however, it will take more than that to keep me down, and you can guarantee I’ll be back on the field in no time, ready to fight the Alien scum once again.

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Journal Entry 11#  
Name: Will 'Billy-Terror' Blazkivitz  
Date: 23rd June 2035  
Operation: Bone Steed

Can Central please tell me why ADVENT feels to skulk through tunnels and hide weird alien shit that is very important to them? Cause moving through them like rats in a maze is getting old real fast. Least I know I got a decent squad backing me up, Rodats, Kebab, Mr E, Chill and last but certainly not least, Kohlla, my main gal and partner. Working with her after a freaking month on separate Ops raised my mood that's for freaking sure.

Rodats moves up and spies our first contacts, two Vipers and something new, some man-sized robot made up of tiny little robots, has ADVENT made a deal with that old world company Microsoft cause that thing looks like an add-on for their old gaming consoles before the Aliens took over.  
Anyway, as they patrolled the area and the group skulked around, I felt confident since Kohlla was nearby as I asked our comrades “What are we asleep around here? Let's get moving!” while moving to a spot to flank these bastards.

Kohlla must've agreed with me as the Templar takes over the spearhead of our ambush and shows us some new tricks she's learnt right on top of the Alien Xbot. Give a girl a month and suddenly she starts showing things off to me when she has the chance. Well, right now the enemy shitting their pants as Kohlla slashes at a Viper as she attempts to flee and then spins to attack the Xbot, only she missed... The hell? She never misses a swing. Then I spy Xbot running off like a cloud of bees, bastard dodged the attack by turning into robots bees, now I have seen it all.

Mr E meanwhile doesn't take a shot on these freaks and instead takes out some strange device, I was about to berate the man for wasting ammo but then Tygan calls in saying that was a good thing to do. So, shoot glowing purple boxes, got it. Chill at this moment decides to pull Xbot out of cover and into her claw with a nice slash at the end. Kebab moves to flank the robot and blasts it away with his cannon, seems like a true Microsoft product, looks flashy but breaks under pressure. Meanwhile, Rodats sticks to the shows scouting while Kohlla guards herself.

The Viper tries to grab my partner only to find a mind blade in its face killing stone dead, the other Viper tries to grab Kohlla with some tongue action but the Templar blocks such forward advances from the kinky alien snake lady. Well, the Viper took offence as she actually spits poison on my partner that bitch. While this was happening another patrol comes into my view, this time an ADVENT Shieldbearer, Purifier and some new one, some advanced Bio ADVENT guy.

Kohlla, even with poison going through her veins charges the bitch that stained her shiny armour with a nasty slash. Meanwhile, Rodats and Kebab work together to give this new ADVENT Bio an explosive welcome as Rodats threw out his claymore and Kebab shot a grenade giving the guy a serious case of shell shock. Unfortunately for us the second group were hunkered down hard so we decided to spread out wishing them to come to us into a kill zone while MR E sends a little support to Rodats with his GREMLIN. Kohlla though finishes of the Viper as she tries to act and falls into a defensive state, I swore if my partner died too damn poison later...

Anyway, Chill grabbed my attention as our plan worked and the new Bio charged at us, Chill fires on the guy and I swiftly draw my pistol finishing off the idiot for running into an obvious trap. He was as stupid as he looked. The Shieldbearer stayed back like a coward and of courses shielded the Purifier as he came up to us, ducking into cover as he didn't want to die like his dumb teammate. I heard Z̶o̶e̶y̶ Kohlla groan in pain and I did start to worry, Alien poison is a bitch after all.

I see my partner trying to help us but that damn snake poison must've clouded her mind as she almost attacked a Purifier right next to Rodats. I shout over saying “Kohlla stop! You might make it explode on top of you! Get the hell out of there! Now! Move!” My words must've reached her as she thankfully pulls back out of the line of sight to the enemy. Unfortunately, this commotion forced Rodats too falls back less he is revealed. The rest of the squad just reloads and sets up an over-watch hoping to get a better shot on these bastards. But the Shieldbearer stays back with his own over-watch and the Purifier then stands there setting fire to Mr E with his flamethrower. Our Specialist panicking and runs to Z̶o̶e̶y̶ Kohlla for protection. This op was going FUBAR real fast as my partner suffers from the poison still and now we had of our own shitting their pants.

I had enough of this shit and I spy Kebab flowing up the two ADVENT destroying their shield but more importantly, giving me a clean shot. I take aim at the Purifiers fuel tank and so long sucker burn in hell as he disappeared before our very eyes while wounding his friend in the resulting explosion. Mr E must've been bolstered by my awesomeness as he gets his shit together and even helps Kohlla, finally, things were looking up. Rodats meanwhile takes out one of the devices from the shadows as Kohlla moves to flank the Shieldbearer, Chill joins in pushing up to the bastard and the coward runs away under pressure. The hunt was on now or it would be if the others didn't focus on so many purple boxes or be content with just pushing up. I try to shoot the bastard but he ducks seeing as all he had to worry about was me, great, just great. Thanks 'team'.

Anyway, we regroup and push up shooting more boxes before Rodats spots the main target guarded by two Vipers, another Xbot and that wounded Shieldbearer. We set up near the door ready to barge in when a Faceless appears near us, Kohlla shouts that she can handle it and tells us to push on, ugh I had a feeling this would go wrong but even though I shout to her 'What if I want more briefing?” as I didn't want to leave her behind she gave me a look, the Templar wasn't taking no for an answer. Begrudgingly as we set up more near the door, the huge mound of alien pudgy flesh duels with my partner with its claws but luckily Z̶o̶e̶y̶ Kohlla blocks the bastard and tears him in half with her blades.

Meanwhile, we get ready to attack and another Faceless appears. I advise everyone to take that down but Zoey rushes past us to the group guarding the main device. Recklessly putting herself in danger as they now knew where we were and scattered into cover even though she kills one. Fucking pig-headed at times. Chill focuses on the Xbot pulling it out of cover and Rodats assist with a shot from the shadows, Mr E flanks the bot and puts it down for good. I couldn't get a good shot so I decide to over-watch with Kebab telling the freaks to “Get some!” trying to draw attention away from Z̶o̶e̶y̶ Kohlla even though she's going defensive out in the open again. My partner blocks one tongue attack but then the bitch spits a cloud of poison on Mr E and Kebab. The other Viper hits Z̶o̶e̶y̶ Kohlla with a plasma shot as I spy the fucking Faceless going for her too. I try to get the freak but my shot misses along with Kebabs then heard my partner cry out in pain with a flesh slashing sound. Right, now I was seriously pissed.

Kohlla must've been too as she charges the Viper that shot her with a look in her eyes that could kill any lesser man, she wounds it as Chill focuses on the Faceless near the rest of us zipping in with a claw attack before pouring rounds into it. Rodats even helps out revealing himself and blasts the flabby freak away. I move around trying to get a better shot on the Vipers as Mr E sends in his GREMLIN to shock one of them alien bitches as Kebab moves to the objective. I spy a Viper trying to tongue grab my partner and she may have blocked that but ends up being shot by the cow, Z̶o̶e̶y̶ Kohlla managed to kill the other even though I saw her bleeding and proceeds to charge the last one before I even get a chance to react. With the final threat dead she leans over to a wall exhausted and I rush over to aid her while Kebab sets the X4 charges on the main device.

I personally help my partner onto Firebrand made sure she didn't succumb to her wounds while stating that was reckless and needless, she could've gotten herself killed but on the trip back she just kept that damn smile up making it hard to keep hold of my anger at her tactical choices since we were 'partners' and needed to work together. As soon as we got back on the Avenger I hauled Z̶o̶e̶y̶ KOHLLA to the medical bay and told those doctors they better take care of my friend before I start shooting up the place. After being 'escorted' out I spy Kohlla smiling to me still as I leave her to rest and heal up that damn smile... Dammit, Kohlla you're not invincible and your a̶c̶t̶i̶o̶n̶s̶ ̶e̶f̶f̶e̶c̶t̶ ̶m̶o̶r̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶n̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶r̶s̶e̶l̶f̶ gonna need to rethink than blinding going in... I'm done for now I need a drink, signing off.  
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DISPLAY LOG (ROV-R)  
<1755:35 23.06.2035> begin PML-017  
<1755:38 23.06.2035> CAMERA: RECORDING…  
<1755:41 23.06.2035> Initializing post-mission scan…  
<1755:43 23.06.2035> #Soldiers =4/6

REQUESTING URGENT MEDICAL ASSISTANCE for COL. ZOEY ‘KOHLLA’ DURAND  
Location: SKYRANGER HELIPAD

(The footage recorded by ROV-R starts with a close up view of Lt. Will Blazkivitz in profile, with Sgt. Natalya Vintermorgon, Sgt. Alex Deathscope and Lt. Mr. E visible in the backdrop. From their positions, it can be deduced that ROV-R has placed itself between Lt. Will Blazkivitz and Col. Zoey Durand. Col Zoey Durand and Cpl. Stepan Evtushenko are behind the GREMLIN and omitted from the post-mission scan, resulting in the incorrect soldier count. In doing so, ROV-R had put itself between the most severely injured soldier and any potential Faceless impersonating Lt. Will Blazkivitz, Sgt. Natalya Vintermorgon or Sgt. Alex Deathscope. ROV-R did not summon noncombatants to assist Col. Zoey Durand until it confirmed that no Faceless were on the platform.)

<1755:46 23.06.2035> Medical alert: Perforative trauma (gunshot), Penetrative lacerations, Envenomation

LT. MR ‘HUNTSMAN’ E  
CPL. STEPAN ‘KEBAB’ EVTUSHENKO

PLEASE REPORT TO THE INFIRMARY IMMEDIATELY

SGT. ALEX ‘RODATS’ DEATHSCOPE  
CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR PROMOTION

(The camera pans around to Col. Zoey Durand. ROV-R hovers in place until she has left, staring after her.)

<1759:00 23.06.2035> CAMERA: OFF  
<1759:01 23.06.2035> Play: Ride On – Christy Moore

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Firebrand's personal log - June 30th 2035 (Entry #17)

Commander seems to be a bit more focused now and has finally made a proper choice, sending some of our soldiers on a covert op that would remove the Avatar project threat. Temporarily anyway. But we really need a little break from that ticker in order to get a lead on that facility in West Africa. The Ranger is ready to go, but we're still a while away from that field trip. Western Europe contacts first.

The mission? It could've gotten a lot smoother. Kohlla was severely injured because of some really annoying snakes. As I'm writing this, she has about one more week of medbay recovery. I keep on dropping by to see how she and Rumble are doing. Without them on missions, it will definitely be harder to accomplish the objectives. Not impossible, just slightly harder.

Anyway ... Supply raid. The ticker is still going. I am wondering if I should prepare some sort of confession entry log. I have the sneaky suspicion that the Commander and Central are reading these entries. I don't care, to be honest. I have nothing to hide. No, correction ... I do have something. It's from long ago though and not all that serious. Well ... serious. Serious for me. For them, I guess it depends how they see it. It won't affect my performance or our fight against the aliens though, so no ... Not serious for them. Just something very personal.

I'll think about it. For now, let's fire up the engines.

Firebrand out.

P.S. Commander and Central, if you are reading these ... Permission to install some headphones in the back of the Skyranger. Some of the soldiers might get some morale boost from listening to some music. I know the soundtrack from that old game, Alien Combat 2, really gets my motivation up when working on the Ranger. There won't be interference with mission objective briefing from Central, I can assure you of that. Let me know. Thanks.

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War recount 14

Well this mission the team had to attack and blow up a psionic transmitter with X4. This was successful, but a little sloppy. Kohlla was beaten, shot, and poisoned multiple times during this mission. Mr. E was burned then him and Doc were also poisoned. There were two new units out on the field this time a shield bearer and a Spectre. The shield bearer did what it sounds like it does, it laid down shields, while the Spectre didn't do much, but is apparently a bunch of nanobots formed together (an evil megazord, except real and on a smaller scale). Two faceless showed up this time and Kohlla went toe to toe with the first one for a while before dealing with two Vipers, as the other one jumped from above. Everyone is still on the clock due to the Avatar project, but the Commander sent out a team to halt the aliens progress long enough to destroy a blacksite. Rumble came back from a covert action wounded, apparently they were ambushed but they're alive, which is good. The next mission is a supply raid and apparently someone's down there who's on our side, should be interesting.  
Signing out  
Jebediah Primm


	20. Ep 19 - Operation Amber Heart

**Ep 19-----Operation Amber Heart--------------------------------------------------------**  
Journal entry #4 – Connor ‘Eternal’ Magnusson – 30th June 2035

\- Start journal

Speed. Violence. Momentum. If the aliens didn’t know what XCOM is all about then they do now. Victory after victory. Raven’s death has spurred us on to new and greater heights. Literally, in this case: a huge, abandoned tower save for one AI hell-bent on killing the team who went out there. What they came back with made my day, and probably my whole week too. We’d all been hearing that AI taunting them with that smug little tone during the mission. What better way to reinforce our victory than using the AI for our own needs…dumbing it down and putting it into the new SPARK body. I bloody love the commander’s ideas sometimes, and Shen’s engineering skills are more than enough to make me feel calm around this new and improved JULIAN. Well, improved for our uses at least.

Commander Odd recently gave both me and Numbers special instructions to train together more frequently. For us to get to know each other much better than we already do. He says the results will show on the battlefield in absolutely no time, and the bond could mean the difference between a life and death scenario. Well, if there was ever someone I’d trust to be able to cover my six, it’s Numbers. Every angle? He’s got it covered? Every possibility? He’s got it accounted for. Probably. Close enough. Being up there in the front lines as a ranger means I go through those med-kits like a madman. We’ll keep each other alive, I can guarantee.

On another note, recently I’ll admit things have started to get hairier. The mysterious Avatar Project has been slowly creeping up on us throughout everything we’ve been doing. Now as I’m writing this? Less than 25 days until completion. The announcement sent a palpable wave of shock through The Avenger. 25 days to sort shit out. 25 days for XCOM to save humanity. Part of me is dreading when we found out what this Avatar Project really is. What horrors are we going to come up against that we haven’t already seen? We’ve come this far, though. There ain’t a chance in hell we’re being stopped now. I’ve been called up for the next mission: Operation Amber Heart. Supply raid. Seems straightforward enough. And remember…Speed. Violence. Momentum.

\- End journal  
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Reapers Log: 8  
June 30, 2035.  
Operation: N/A  
I wasn’t assigned to go on the next mission unfortunately, even though I was just fine. Natalya, Will, Julian, and a bunch of others went out to gather some supplies from a disabled train.

The chosen also showed up for another attempt at harassing the squad, and we clearly saw that she improved her tactics slightly. She tried to stay out of vision of our soldiers when she gets the chance, and she even almost killed one of those soldiers. They had to put her down like they always do, but their encounter with the chosen basically made things more difficult in the long run.

There was quite a few injuries this time, at least no one died. Looks like the infirmary is going to be filled with people for once. At least Zoey won’t be alone in there with the therapists/doctors.

Speaking of Chosen, we just found out there’s another one. Apparently from what I was told, his style is sniping. Kind of like Wills, except far more deadly than what he could do against him. If I ever face him, I will make sure to give him a fair gun fight that he will never forget.

I went to visit Lily again, and she improved the claymores like I asked her to. She told me that they should explode more deadly and violently now. Meaning that more Advent will get caught in the blast that will hurt them a lot more than it did in the past. I thanked her, and retrieved them.

I also did some socializing with Natalya. She told me about her concerns with the Chosen insulting her kind, calling them “Betrayers.” I reassured her that the Chosen is only trying to get under her skin, as while she did betray them, it was only to be free. Though I haven’t given her that pep talk word by word of what I just said here, since I thought it would only make her feel worse than what I could do, so I left it short, yet inspiring.

Overall, I feel that there isn’t much to talk about this time, minus the fact that the chosen showed up during todays mission, and we found another one of the chosen.  
-Rodats, out.

-End Of Log.

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Journal Entry 12#   
Name: Will 'Billy-Terror' Blazkivitz   
Date: 30th June 2035   
Operation: Amber Heart

Looks like we have another smash and grab, good, been wanting to vent some of my anger on some easy pickings, I looked forward to some payback for what those ADVENT bastards did for my partner. Though I suspected Shen our resident head engineer and quartermaster may be had been annoyed at the amount of ammunition I've spent shooting targets on the range back on the Avenger, I'll make sure to grab a couple extra boxes of rounds as a peace offering so my gear is never skipped on a check up.

Working with Eternal, Mr E, Chill, Doc and we even got SPARKY, standard procedure. Scout and find a target, I take the high ground and to my surprise, I see our enemy right near us, a Muton Infector, Gatling Trooper and an Anti Riot MEC. They too look up shocked to see me and they bolted for cover as I had superior flanking. The party guests had arrived so it was time to get the snacks out, we knew the drill by now, get out there.

They pull back not allowing anyone other than me to get a shot on them, so I too pull back and shout at the others to join me to set up a nice kill zone. By the time we get into position uninvited guest drops by, The Assassin and boy did she sound pissed, I guess I would be too if I were killed and brought back to fight those that killed you. At the moment Mr E browns his pants as he hears the Assassin's overcomes and breaks out of positioning. The MEC tries to use this opportunity but Doc and Eternal combine their firepower and while they didn't kill it they did halt the bot from seeking out Mr E.

Sparky moves to assist Mr E but his shot on the MEC misses, the AI asking us if his weapon was properly assembled... How the fuck would I know am I an engineer? Dumb Rustbucket. Luckily Eternal puts down the MEC with a shot right into the chest while the rest of us set up another over-watch kill zone since we knew of three more threats out there still. Doc and I spot the Muton running at us and we pepper the alien with rounds from our respective guns, Chill sees the freak was still alive but changes that fact with a burst of her Mag Bullpup putting him down for good. Two down but that Gatling Trooper was hanging back and the Assassin was getting closer.

The Squad pulls back up top along with Mr E who decided to shot shitting himself but the robot didn't follow, he moved forward. I was going to shout at the rust bucket until he revealed the Assassin, guess SPARKY a good hound dog with those advanced senses. Well, the bitch was here so let us give her the old XCOM welcome. SPARKY charges up and opens with a hail of fire wounding the freak but on his second shot he misses to which the Assassin counters with a shot of her space-age shotgun. Good thing she's a bad shot with it though. Chill and Mr E move to flank her and pump some more rounds into the Chosen. I blast her a couple times with my pistol and honestly wish I had a tank to put her down at that point. Doc even uses a grenade but honestly, I wished he fired that thing before we all started shooting first. Either way, she was heavily wounded but still willing to fight.

The Assassin calls in Bio Troopers to support her before she runs up to MR E and slashes him, meanwhile Eternal hits one of the Bio Troopers in the back as he ran to cover but instead of dying the ADVENT morphed into some huge advanced form of Faceless. Great. At this point, the Assassin falls into the cover of Darkness. Doc then runs to assist Mr E while I try to take down this new Faceless, oh man could it take a beating as it barely flinched from my shot into the chest area. Chill though focuses the second Bio Trooper by pulling him out of cover and slashes at the hybrid then Eternal puts down the wounded trooper with a blast of his shotgun as Julian jumps to the high ground. 

The Bio Faceless runs at but this proves to be a mere distraction as the Assassin flanks both Mr E and Doc then sends this purple energy wave at the two dazing them before running to cover. Sneaky bitch.

Eternal jumps down to the Chosen and point blank shoots her in the chest while Julian comes down to assist him with another shot, Chill uses her hook to get around the battlefield quicker allowing her to revive Doc from his dazed state before firing on the Assassin. I jump down to revive Mr E knowing that he wouldn't want to miss his party and with our combined firepower the squad finally puts her down. After another death the Chosen makes a monologue stating she's been bested again and blah blah blah. We had a mission to do so I turned the cow out as the Bio Faceless came at us and tried to hit Eternal but misses entirely with those claws, to which Eternal returns the attention by a shotgun blast to the face killing the mutated alien. 

We regroup and heal up, SPARKY states that our over-watching sounded like a job for turrets, dumb things a walking turret. Anyway, SPARKY find a second group consisting of an ADVENT Medic, Lancer, Purifier and that Gatling Trooper who ran away. SPARKY decides to blow up the truck by the Trooper and Medic with a rocket, killing the Trooper and seriously wound the Medic. Mr E sends his GREMLIN in to finish off the Medic with a tingly shock down its spine while Chill attempted to pull the Lancer out of his cover, she barely misses with that thing but I decided to help to output another round into the Lancer just as he decided to peek out. Doc lays out suppressing fire on the Lancer who decides to charge us but Eternal stops that plan but a nice reaction fire on the Lancer stopping him cold dead. The Purifier tried to follow the Lancer but as soon as the Lancer fell over the Purifier ran away regretting his choice. SPARKY gives chase and lays down a hail of fire killing the Purifier without blowing him and the supplies up, good little death bot. 

The rest of the squad moves up searching for more foes while I hang back on the hill giving them covering fire. I spy an ADVENT Trooper with a medic and snipe the Trooper seriously wounding him. The medic runs to cover but Chill puts it down before he had a chance. I attempt to finish the Trooper but my shot instead destroy half a tree and sets a nearby car on fire, one of the others asks me “Where were you aiming? Hit the Trooper!” to which I replied, “What do you think I'm doing?”

As we argue the guys set up an over-watch trap since they couldn't get any good angles but unfortunately Eternal finds another group of alien forces, a Sectoid and two Vipers. Doc decides to flush out the bastards by using a grenade to kill the trooper and expose the Sectoid who decided to get a little too close to him. Julian takes this chance shoot the flanked Sectoid wounding it more as Chill and eternal pulls back into cover with Mr E. The Sectoid tries to grab Doc's mind but fails since it was heavily wounded, Doc though panics running into a not so great spot but did try to shoot up a Viper at least. Speaking of Vipers one got on the high ground and pulled Eternal up with her tongue before proceeding to constrict the guy in a snake-like hug. The other simply decided to fire on Julian damaging the bot.

Things were looking dicey but Mr E saves the day by using his bot to shock Doc out of his panicked state then redirects the bot towards the Viper binding Eternal, shocking the bitch and making her relinquish her hold. Meanwhile, all this happened as I decided to blast away the Sectoid hiding all the way in the back. Chill at this point grappling hooks towards Eternal's position and shoots the Viper near him, Doc uses his last grenade on the other Viper while Julian moves in to assist but misses his shot. This gives Eternal a chance to heal himself then slash the Viper next to him with his sword killing it.

Unfortunately, Eternal gets tongue grabbed the second Viper and then bound into another hug. A chill runs to assist but spies a civie contact on sight and rushes over to move them out of there. I try to hit the Viper binding Eternal but my shot went wide as I didn't want to risk hitting my squad-mate. In the end, Eternal was saved by SPARKY of all things as he runs up and points blank shots the snake in the side of the head. 

Central calls in stating we wiped them out, time to grab and go. It got messing out there but at least we pulled it through and even killed the Assassin again. Now I know the Chosen are no joke, I'll stay on my toes next time. Signing off.  
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Firebrand's personal log - July 8th 2035 (Entry #18)

I hope this won't be my last birthday. Central remembered. And Shen. The others ... well, they couldn't have known. I am actually a bit surprised of Shen, because she wasn't supposed to know. But hey ... she's the computer wiz. Maybe she broke into my classified file or something. I wouldn't care if she did that. She's a sweet girl. Even gave me a little Gremlin to help me around the hangar.

Supply raid mission. It went well ... Even with Bitch #1 showing up, they still showed her. Huntsman was seriously injured though, she almost killed him. He should thank his lucky stars. There were several other injuries too, but the team got back in one piece. With a Faceless stench in the cargo hold. Needed a few good hours to get that smell out. After which, I did install some headphones in the back of the Ranger, without waiting for approval. Hey, if they want to use them, maybe it gets them more pumped up.

Unless my math is wrong ... we won't be able to make it to that West African facility in time. I think the Commander messed up his math. Or maybe he is really relying on that sabotage covert op. Cutting it rather close. Speaking of rather close ... Yes, I should say something. Just in case I won't have the time to do so.

I may seem rather distant at times. And I might not seem too interested in a relationship. That is actually true. I had a relationship once. I was young ... not a full-fledged pilot yet. He was a pilot. Nobody knew him like I did. Some probably thought we were just colleagues or friends. I am pretty sure Central believed that. He was my first and only love. He disappeared after everything went haywire and we had to run. I am sure you have figured out by now whom I'm talking about. I still hope we will find him some day. Not that I expect to resume what we had ... If he's even alive. It's been 20 years, after all. But I definitely did not forget him. And I don't believe I ever will.

Anyway ... I had to get that off my chest. Sorry, Central. I did lie to you once or twice back then. You bought it. Sorry. Then again ... I think you have some secrets of your own, don't you, old man? Call it a woman's instinct. Might be wrong, of course.

Resistance rescue mission. Enough of that trip down memory lane. Back to work. And let's fire up the headphones too, just in case.

Firebrand out.  
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DISPLAY LOG (ROV-R)  
<1230:24 30.06.2035> begin PML-018  
<1230:26 30.06.2035> Initializing post-mission scan…  
<1230:35 30.06.2035> #Soldiers =6/6  
<1230:36 30.06.2035> Medical alert: Strangulation, Slash wounds, Concussion  
REQUESTING URGENT MEDICAL__

<1230:38 30.06.2035> Request CANCELLED. REDUNDANCY: Medical personnel already on site.

SGT. CONNOR ‘ETERNAL’ MAGNUSSON  
PLEASE REPORT TO THE INFIRMARY IMMEDIATELY  
<1230:45 30.06.2035> ?STATUS CML-N  
<1230:45 30.06.2035> LastActivityView: CML-N  
>>>>>>>> {1227:46 30.06.2035} REQUESTING URGENT MEDICAL ASSISTANCE for LT. MR. ‘HUNTSMAN’ E  
<1230:51 30.06.2035> Logic CHECK: CML-N  
PASSED  
<1231:03 30.06.2035> Play: Thank You for Being a Friend – Andrew Gold

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War recount 15

Well this mission was a rollercoaster of emotions. The Assassin showed up this mission and almost killed Mr. E, who also ran and hid when he saw the Chosen show up (I mean no disrespect, seeing the thing from back here is scary enough, but being down there with it must be another thing entirely). The Assassin also brought in two bio troopers, one of which turned into a new type of faceless. The Assassin and all other Advent in the immediate area were killed bringing things back in our troops favor. A Purifier even showed its true colors running in to engage, then out once it realised what would happen to it. Julian was his usual snarky self, making annoying comments (even after the Commander threatened to turn the bucket of bolts into a turret). Everything was going fine until Magnusson was pulled by two different Vipers and wrapped by them (not at the same time). Nonetheless, all injuries aside, the mission was a success. One resistance contact was met who gave the ground team supplies. The territory for the Hunter was found securing another Chosen to deal with on the map (should be fun). Next mission is going to be for the Skirmishers and there'll be lots of lost for the team to deal with. That's everything for today, everyone's calmed down about the Avatar project but we're still being put to work.  
Signing out  
Jebediah Primm


	21. Ep 20 - Operation Diamond Storm

**Ep 20-----Operation Diamond Storm----------------------------------------------------**  
Log 11: Zoey “Kohlla” Durand  
07/08/2035  
\--- Pre-Mission  
I suppose now is a good time to write this down. Ever since the Blacksite I’ve had these nightmares - the same one over and over again. Every time I’m back home, with my mother, and then there’s a knock at the door. Then there’s ADVENT shouting as they break into the house, and whilst I try to attack them I’m completely unarmed. I punch and kick at them but it does nothing, and then everything fades to black until I awake in one of those tubes. At the moment of processing, as I scream in agony, I wake. I don’t know where these nightmares have come from, or if they mean anything or will impact me, but it seems that the doctors have been monitoring my behaviour ever since the dreams started. They say I’ve gotten more reckless and erratic, and have diagnosed me with “Generalized Anxiety Disorder”, which means I’m more likely to panic. Whilst I don’t fear these nightmares, or this new disorder, I suppose I will have to keep a watch on it for the next mission - Operation “Diamond Storm”, a mission to assist our Skirmisher allies against the Lost. I hope that I can help my team as best possible, even if I’m compromised.  
\--- Post-Mission  
The operation was a success, 

Straight off the bat, the Lost Hordes closed in. The Commander sent me face to face with the biggest one of the lot, and even though I tore through it with ease, I didn’t manage to draw a kill. Rumble came to help me out though, and together we finished it off before Odd sent me into the heart of the swarm to do as much damage as possible. Things were going well, but as always, something had to happen to make it worse. Initial scans showed no ADVENT activity, and they were right in the fact there were no Aliens on the ground, but then one of those blue-skinned bastards showed up. The Elder’s newest breed of coward, who calls himself “The Hunter”. I guess it’s no surprise that given how much the Assassin loves to run and hide, the only way the Elders could improve on that is by making one that won’t even show it’s face. And it’s cocky as all hell too. The Commander gave us a quick tactical readout, with information drawn from the encounters that our other allies have had with these Chosen, and of course we had to get the one that can’t be torn apart my blades.

In the moments that followed, the Lost horde closed in, and I got to work. I cleaved my way through two of them, but only managed to kill one. I needed to work harder, and so I did. Odd called me to a position that would certainly let me do some damage, and with my blades and arc-wave, I felled two more Lost in a single swipe, drawing in the minimal psionic capacity of both to empower my blades. The rest of the squad worked their magic, ripping through the Lost at a blinding speed, and Rumble showed this off in great capacity. He’s definitely earned his place on this team, as has everyone else.

Ever the Coward, the Hunter moved to higher ground and deployed his Sniper Rifle, marking Al-Shegardy with a “Tracking Shot”. It seems that for whatever reason this specific Chosen needs time to charge this shot, and so the Commander made the most of it by moving Shegardy out of range. With another strike, I charged my Shard Gauntlets back up to full power. As we advanced, we found the guy we were looking for. Some scientist and his escort - and true to the Skirmisher MO, he was of course an ADVENT defector. Not that I’m complaining, after all, the recruits the Skirmishers have given us so far have been amazing additions to the team. There were three Lost shamblers blocking our path, and so I was given the task of cleaning them out. With a single swipe, all three collapsed to the ground, somehow even more mindless than they had been when they were alive. 

Once we had the VIPs secured, we made our retreat, and though the battle to get back was long and hard-fought we managed to do so. To cover us, the Commander instructed me to create a "Ghost", which is a psionic replica of myself, forged using the thoughts drawn from the corpse of one of the many Lost we slayed. Unfortunately, the Commander didn't seem to quite understand the frailty of the copy that I had generated, and as a result it didn't even manage to secure a single kill before the few thoughts that held it's form corporeal shattered after only a few seconds. We didn't manage to kill the Hunter, but that doesn't matter - what's important is that we all came back in one piece. Once we returned to base, I began to prepare for my next mission, but it appears that one of our stealth teams has been caught, and the Commander and Central are already on task for helping their escape. I just hope Richter and Stevens make it out alive.

+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++  
Reapers Log: 9  
July 8, 2035.  
Operation: Diamond Storm.  
It’s been awhile since I last written a log. Mostly because there hasn’t been any missions for a good amount of time. Zoey has finally been healed thoroughly, and she appears to be back to her normal self. For this mission, it was as always, me, Zoey, “Rumble”, “Admiral”, another new sniper named, “Iron-Wolf”, and “Shegary”. The layout was pretty heavy on snipers this time around.  
We were informed that the skirmishers had a little bit of trouble with the lost, and they somehow got themselves overrun with them. Maybe it would’ve been better if they decided not to kill every lost in sight and gone with a more, quiet approach. Nonetheless, they were on a bridge, and we were on the other end of it. Things were going decent at first, until we were face to face with the chosen. It wasn’t one the chosen that we were familiar with though, he had a gun, a badass looking gun if I say so myself. He hid himself at the other side of the bridge, harassing the squad as he was taking pock shots at us, and managing to hit a few. 

I was mostly concealed throughout the whole mission once again. My training with volk about being quiet is finally being put to the full potential, because if that chosen notices me, I know that I will be the one that will have to run, not the other way around. I wanted to take some shots on the Hunter, but Odd denied by request, and stating that for once, it will be best to retreat to fight another day, which is very.. You know, more ironic than anything. We’re talking about a commander who usually has this confidence in us for dealing with whatever stands in our way. Obeying odds orders, we managed to recover the escorts, and this Advent-looking soldier with a sniper rifle tagged along with us as well, while the lost and hunter ended up getting in each other's way.

While it is unfortunate that I was unable to fight that new chosen, I know that when the time comes, I will kill it, hopefully permanently as well, if that’s even possible. Not a whole bunch of people got promotions this time, except for the Advent soldier that followed us home. I assumed that the skirmishers must’ve set him “free” because he’s now with us.

It was my first time I actually came face to face with a chosen out on the battlefield. While it wasn’t that sword wielding freak, I feel a sense of dread from the sniper user as well. Maybe I should start to watch his tactics, and see if I could incorporate that into so-

…..

Hold on. Apparently the covert ops that was meant to save our skin from the avatar project has been ambushed, and “Rumble.” came in to tell me I should go see the feed. I told him to give a minute to finish wrapping my thoughts, since I can’t write in the same log after I do something. So this means I have to end this log right now. I will wrap up my thoughts once again once i’m finished watching the feed.  
-Rodats, out.

-End Of Log.

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Log: Mr. "Huntsman" E  
07/08/2035  
Entry #7

Live well. Fight strong. Die with honor. ~Huntsman motto~

(Med Bay)

It has been quite some time since my last log. Honestly it has been so hectic around here I just haven't had the time. Fight after fight. Inch by inch we gain. Although there have been casualties in this bloody war. We lost a good man. Pagenn Darksky. Raven. That stupid snake that got him got what it deserved. Still Raven didn't deserve to go like that. The man fought hard and was a credit to the team. He will be missed.

(A short silence follows)

CML-N has been invaluable to me. Without him I'm not sure what I'd do. Many things have happened since last time. I have been part of the team that has taken down the Shadowblade many times. In my last battle I lost my cool when she first showed. She responded by nearly cutting me down. The wound was deep. However I replayed her in kind with a bullet spray to the face! However without my comrades I'd have been toast. Doc and I have grown quite close over the last months watching each others backs. This has help immensely and I'm happy to have them. We raided some facility and there were a bunch of robots inside. Shen went with that team. They had no issues taking it out and acquiring one last gift from Shen. By that I mean Raymond, Lilly’s father. We got a MEC.  
Speaking of Shen. Something weird is going on. She came to me the other day accusing me of messing with ROV-R. I did no such thing of course but something is going on with these GREMLINS. Just the other day CML-N was doing things on his own. Sneaking around the bar and brought me a Long Island Iced te….. um…. I'm going to have to erase that bit later. Anyways something weird is going on. I'm going to look into it.  
Just for the record, no this is not the correct order things have happened. No I do not need more help medical staff. I am mentally sound. I have amnesia I'm not crazy. Seriously. If one more medical personnel approaches me about my mental state because of these logs I'm going to show them mental…. Now time for some therapeutic tea.

(There is a loud chugging noise and a sigh of relief)

Yup. Thanks CML-N. Best recovery I've gotten in medical yet. Heh.

Huntsman out.  
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Firebrand's personal log - July 8th 2035 (Entry #19)

Rescue mission went rather well. A bit dicey, due to another Chosen showing up. The Hunter. He seems different than Bitch #1. Are they related? Because if they are ... that's one messed-up family. Anyway, Kohlla dished kills left and right on the zombies. The others pitched in as well. We collected a scientist and ... apparently a former ADVENT soldier. I'm guessing he's getting debriefed, as we are continuing to build that radio relay in order to make contact with West Africa.

Alarm blaring ... Now what? Hold on ... 

(few minutes of inactivity)

Seems our covert op got ambushed. This is pretty much do or die right here. If the op fails, we might be out of time with the Avatar Project ticking down like crazy. Central wants me to head out there and pick up our team, as soon as we move into the area. No time to lose, let's get our boys back.

Firebrand out.  
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Damon Nights’ Audio Log: July 8th, 2035  
The Commander sent out a squad of soldiers to recover some sort of, experimental soldier? I don’t know how worth it the mission was, especially since the poor sods had to go up against Lost hordes. The mission turned out to be successful at least, so I can’t complain.  
As for my work, well the excavation of this room is going smoothly enough, I just wish the Commander would assign me more help, not that there’s anything wrong with Astrid, it’s just that more people would make the work go faster. I know this will be a while coming, we still got several rooms to clear out, but I wonder where I’ll be staffed when this ship has been cleared out? Somewhere important I hope, not that being the second in command of XCOM’s engineers is a bad job, just thinking about my future.  
Just found out some startling information about our newest addition, he’s former Advent. Now, I know; “Don’t judge a book by its cover,” but I have a bad history with Advent, and people know it. If I find out that this guy was one of those bastards who raided my lab, I’ll grab a gun and kill him myself; though, it was my lack of weapon training that got me this gig. I hope he wasn’t, but to be honest, I have my fingers crossed, don’t see much action from the inside of a ship. As long as he proves himself to XCOM, I won’t mind him as much. Who knows, maybe he has information on the people who did kill my co-workers and raided my lab. 

+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++  
DISPLAY LOG (ROV-R)  
WELCOME BACK!  
<1110:09 08.07.2035> begin PML-019  
<1110:11 08.07.2035> Initializing post-mission scan…  
<1110:15 08.07.2035> #Soldiers =7/6  
<1110:17 08.07.2035> Medical alert: Perforative trauma (gunshot), Concussion  
<1110:18 08.07.2035> LT. [INVALID STRING ID] added to roster.

REQUESTING URGENT MEDICAL ASSISTANCE for LT. [INVALID STRING ID]

Location: SKYRANGER HELIPAD

LT. DIEGO ‘RUMBLE’ RAMIREZ  
PLEASE REPORT TO THE INFIRMARY IMMEDIATELY

<1110:21 08.07.2035> #Avenger Personnel (Scientist) = 1/0  
Good morning, Administrator LILY SHEN  
<1124:47 08.07.2035> Edit SoldierName: [LT][INVALID STRING ID]  
<1124:50 08.07.2035> SoldierName:[LT][E ‘COLLUX’ 001]  
<1124:53 08.07.2035> Saving changes…  
+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++  
Derek Walters. XCOM Scientist. Audio Log Entry 1: Finally, after all these years. This is what XCOM has been doing. Not complaining, they've saved my ass and I am all too grateful. I remember when the resistance first found me. A lone Templar Cell found me hiding out in whatever's left of New Bedford Mass. Said they needed my expertise. What for, I didn't know, but I didn't have much of a choice. Turns out that they needed a scientist. Several, actually. They were planning expeditions to ruined cities across the globe, trying to learn more about those... fog pods... and the Lost that they produced. I jumped at the opportunity! Finally, a chance to get back at the aliens! My group was deployed to Gibraltar, where we were aided by the Reapers in entering Marsielle, where we could do our work. Our group consisted of me, an engineer named Dimitri Yinuskivic, and three Skirmishers to act as bodyguards: Vorpal, Tex, and Collux. I was at the port, studying how these fog pods were affecting local marine life. All went well, until the Lost actually showed up. At first it was just a few... then swarms. We were overrun almost instantly. Dimitri got jumped by what he thought was a corpse. Poor guy didn't stand a chance. The three Skirmishers rushed to help him, but that didn't end up working out well. Instinctively, I activated our emergency defense turret, set off our distress beacon, and hunkered down. For two... whole... hours. Two hours during which we lost Tex to a Boomer, and Vorpal ran off to distract the horde and buy us time. 'Bout thirty minutes later, I heard the roar of a sky-ranger's engines, and we were saved. I have to thank Rumble the most. He risked everything for me. Then that Hunter showed up, then more Lost came, and soon I was just cowering behind a wall, crawling my way to safety. Eventually, we left, hopefully for good this time. I don't want to see those lost ever again. I've only just unloaded my stuff, and already I- **klaxons sounding** $#@!, one of their covert ops teams got ambushed. Need to get ready for takeoff. Walters out. End Log

+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++  
War recount 16

Well this mission the team had to get a scientist and his escort, who had been downed. The Lost were difficult, but they didn't kill the team. Eventually the new Chosen, the Hunter, showed up and almost killed Rumble before calling in two bio-troopers. Jenny was able to revive the escort so they all could high tail it outta there before the Hunter got too dangerous. He didn't really show off any skills before everyone was out, just marksmanship. Other than that Iron-Wolf and Jenny killed many Lost with head shots and Kohlla used her ghost ability which was able to pull Rumble back to the team. The new soldier Collux, as he likes to be called, apparently used to be Advent, which I'm unsure about, but so was Chill and she has proved she's more than what we all first thought of her (which was that she's evil).

P.S. apparently the team out on a covert op was ambushed in the Hunter's territory, should be loads of fun.  
Signing out  
Jebediah Primm

+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++  
‘A tale of Collux and Chill’ compilation roleplay logs begins here:   
https://archiveofourown.org/works/14220114

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	22. Ep 21 - Ambush (Covert Op)

**Ep 21-----Ambush (Covert Op)------------------------------------------------------------**  
Reapers Log: 10  
July 8, 2035.  
Operation: N/A  
I watched the mission feed with the rest of the soldiers in the back of the lounge. We watched how Judge and Numbers immediately ran for their life to the extraction zone, killing anything in their path as well. Whether that would be Advent, or lost alike. Fortunately, they got out unscathed, and Judge got himself a promotion as well from that covert ops, so I guess it all worked out in the end.

Zoey went back into the infirmary because she said that she wasn’t feeling well. When I checked in on her, the doctors told me that she’ll be in there for a while once again. I thought she was completely recovered? Did I mix her up with Homer, our wannabe mission friend? Probably.

With the Covert Op out of the way, tension decreased a little as we finally have some breathing room before the Avatar Project is completed. As we speak, we plan to push through Europe and down into Africa where we have intel on an Advent Facility there, in case the aliens decide to pick up the pace on their main objective.

We also saw an new recruit who joined our ranks today, a former Advent scientist who likes to play with fire. We should bring him out on some of the Lost missions to satisfy his pyro desires.

In the meantime, while I wait for the next mission, which is god who knows how long, I should try to find where all of those corpses are located. Might have to ask Tygan for the details. The reason why is because I want to learn what kind of odors both Advent and the aliens leave behind. Kind of like how a hunter can track his prey in the wilderness. Probably have a sample of each odor as well so I can tell what kind of smell it is on the battlefield. It might seem a little.. far fetched to most people, but if I can be able to track my prey on the battlefield, I will do more than just scout, I will hunt for the squad.

Might as well wrap it up here, i’ll write another log once another mission happens, and we’ll go from there.  
Rodats, out.

-End Of Log.

+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++  
Firebrand's personal log - July 15th 2035 (Entry #20)

That was an odd mission. Like really odd. First, the team reported ADVENT reinforcements coming in. Then the sensors ... picked up nothing. As if like ADVENT vanished into thin air. A few minutes later, the team also reported an ADVENT unit incoming. Then it weirdly vanished from the sensors. What the heck was going on? Anyway, from then on, it was pretty much a walk in the park. The team ran past another ADVENT unit, grabbed onto the ropes, I gave that unit the middle finger (not that he could see me do that anyway) and we were off.

Avatar ticker went quiet as a result. The radio relay in Western Europe got finished, while I did some more Ranger maintenance. I never know when I'd need my baby at full strength to outrun ADVENT interceptors. Which isn't much of a problem, unless the extraction happens at the very last possible moment. Then some fancy flying is in order to give them the slip.

Anyway ... we were just about to head off to finally investigate that old signal, potentially from Big Sky, when mission alarm blared again. Leave it to ADVENT to spoil things for me. Bastards. Need to remind the Commander to return to that signal after we're done with this. Because he might forget. He is a rather odd person sometimes.

Firebrand out.  
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Derek Walters. Audio Log Entry 2: Apparently my rescue wasn't a fluke. These guys are good. These guys move like the wind, though they must've busted there equipment or something, because the scanners were completely on the fritz. Entire Advent squads disappeared from the scanners. In the end, though, they escaped without a scratch. Whatever they did in that Advent facility, it was enough to set back their progress by at least a few weeks. After we finished the breakthrough, the Commander set Tygan and the rest of our research team to constructing plated armor. Not exactly my specialty, I personally wanted to conduct autopsies, but armor takes priority. The Chosen are also clamping down on the resistance. I didn't even realize there was more than one of them until that sword one disrupted our supplies exchange. **Guerrilla ops in 5. Resupply and stand by for take off** Alright. Walters out. End Log.

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Damon Nights’ Audio Log: July 16th, 2035  
The Commander must be pretty hard pressed for resources right now. In the early hours (and I mean really early hours) of the morning, the Commander sent a squad out to go hack some kind of terminal to gather intel. From what I’ve heard the mission went pretty well; they went in, killed some aliens, hacked a terminal, and killed more aliens. Pretty standard day at XCOM. Two events caught my interest though. The first thing I found interesting about the mission was the new Viper species, the Wyvern. Sounded like an interesting enough creature; apparently, it was more “fire based,” so instead of spitting venom at us, it spits fire. Lovely to see all the things Advent creates to kill us. The other was the squad’s encounter with a Spectre. I was told it got the jump on them, and then cloned ‘Vagabond.’ Seemed like some pretty nasty business, but the Spectre, and the clone as well, were killed off before they caused too many problems. You know what, I think I might take back what I said about the mission going well, the squad was jumped at almost every corner, though they did pull through in the end.  
C011uX and Numbers just came back from their covert action, making it take just a little bit longer for the Eldar to finish their “Avatar Project.” But the thing that I’m most interested in is getting to my interrogation of C011uX. Liam didn’t report me to the HR department, so I think it’s okay if I do this one final bout of questioning. ‘Numbers,’ ‘Mango,’ and ‘Midnight’ were sent out to help the Skirmishers find more info on the Chosen Hunter. Got to say, as much as the Chosen hate us, and we hate the Chosen, if I had to pick one I “liked” it would probably be him, more or less due to his clever comments.   
Finished my first job as well today! Pretty hyped, and the Commander seemed pretty happy with the work done. My next assignment was to clear out a shielded power cell, and with the help from Tygan’s amazing group of scientists, we cleared it out pretty much instantly! After that, I was given a solo assignment to clear out more debris. I estimate this is going to take me around two months to finish, unless someone else joins or finishes their job. Ah well, at least I got something to do until I find the time to confront C011uX.  
We went to the Black Market today, picked up two interesting beauties called Personal Combat Sims (or PCS chips), the kind of things I would be working with if not for the Advent raid, as well as a few weapon modifications. I would have killed to have been able to help, or at the very least watch, the installation of the PCS chips, but I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me, and can’t really afford the distraction. In a sudden change of mind, the Commander decided I should work on construction of a power relay, a much faster job then just excavating a room, but I hate to leave a job undone. I’ll probably get back to that soon, but then the Commander had to give my job to a medical assistant, oh well, I’m still the head, so that’s fine I guess. Day ended off with a mission assignment from the Council, which is going to get us a new Engineer!

+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++  
DISPLAY LOG (ROV-R)  
<1135:58 08.07.2035> begin PML-020  
<1136:00 08.07.2035> Applying post-combat footage analysis…

#Soldiers =2/2

IF SUM(Advent; Civilians) = 0, THEN Faceless = 0  
Advent = 2 + NULL  
IF Advent Transport > 0, THEN Advent > 0

Footage analysis DOES NOT COMPUTE

<1136:18 08.07.2035> Verifying data integrity…  
<1136:22 08.07.2035> Verifying data integrity…  
<1136:25 08.07.2035> Verifying data integrity…  
FORCE STOP  
<1136:05 08.07.2035> Initializing post-mission scan…  
<1136:07 08.07.2035> No medical treatment required.

CPL. THOMAS ‘THE JUDGE’ RICHTER  
CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR PROMOTION

<1136:32 08.07.2035> Play: Why you Running Away? – Ady Suleiman

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Damon Nights’ Audio Log: July 15th, 2035  
Caught me a bit off guard today, but apparently one of the Covert Ops the Commander sent out was ambushed! Not by a Chosen or anything, but by some experimental Advent soldiers, completely invisible and impossible to track. Good news is, the squad got out of there fast enough so that the new troops couldn’t find them. The soldiers were unharmed though, which which is some great news in itself. But, just when everyone thought the danger had passed, the Commander decided to send another pair of unlucky souls on a pretty similar mission. Poor old “Numbers” just so happened to be one of them, but so was that Colluks guy, I just can’t find a good time to confront him.  
My work is still going well, I even think we might be finished in a week or so! The Engineering department completed their latest assignment, the nanomedkit, with, might I add, a little help from yours truly! Let’s hope this gets me little extra in my next paycheck. We do get paid, right? With my help as well, the Engineering department created a little something I’m going to call a biomedkit, helps deal with radiation poisoning, as well as the normal amount of cellular reconstruction provided by the base nanomedkit, it’s a win-win! I think Shen might actually be starting to notice that she has a bit of competition, friendly, of course.  
Commander got a radio station up and running in Western Europe, wonder if any of the resistance agents there have any news of Chloe? Of course, this will bring in more income for the Avenger, and allow us to expand farther, getting to all those hard to reach Black Sites. Went after a supply drop in the U.S. which, I’m going to assume, means payday as well as more supplies for constructing new facilities and gear. Got around to building the skulljack as well, after Shen’s latest SPARK upgrade was completed. The Scientists working under Tygan got some new work today as well, experimenting with some more advanced armor, can’t wait to see how that goes. A new recruit came in today, and turns out he’s also a former Advent soldier, *sigh* means more people to interrogate on my part. Besides that, not much happened today, except for the new Guerilla Ops.

Damon Nights’ (Bonus) Audio Log: July 15th, 2035 [Mid-Afternoon]  
I got the chance to talk to Liam in the bar today during one my break. Turns he knows just about as much as I do when it comes to the raid on my lab. I shouldn’t have been so quick to assume anything about him either, the guy wasn’t even a soldier, just a technician. He wouldn’t know anything about the items taken from my lab either, his work involved dealing with the Lost problem, not biotech. Kind of ironic to think about it, the Aliens can’t even deal with a problem they created. I hope Liam didn’t mind the questioning I put him through, sounds like the guy has been through some pretty tough stuff. Who knows, in another, we might have even been colleagues, maybe even friends.  
This just leaves C011uX to talk to. Wonder when I’ll get the chance to do that. The guy did come from the UK though, so if he wasn’t a part of it, he sure as hell must know something. Don’t know what to do if that’s the case, I don’t have any other leads. Might try asking the Commander if he can help out. Don’t know if he takes personal requests though.

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War recount 17

This ambush went quite well, a little weird, but successful. Well first someone in Advent messed up, reinforcements showed, but they didn't. The ship came in, but no one hopped off. Commander Odd proposed the strange idea that there was invisible troops (which now that I think about isn't that absurd with everything else that Advent makes). After that there was a magician medic who appeared then disappeared. All this eventually led to the team booking it past a group of enemies to leave and evac. We received some intel that no one knows where it came from. But I did over here Bradford and Odd talking about the "Council" and how they did flawlessly. The Avatar project was reduced meaning were not the clock anymore and have some breathing room. Kohlla's getting some therapy because apparently she had picked up a little problem a mission or two go. Other than that we got a new recruit and apparently he is going to be using the flamethrower. Things are beginning to turn up XCOM.  
Signing out  
Jebediah Primm


	23. Ep 22 - Operation Blessed Empire

**Ep 22-----Operation Blessed Empire----------------------------------------------------**  
Hunter Peterson's log #1

So. Not used to doing these sorts of things. Documenting my experiences and all. But I figure, being apart of something this big and dangerous, I might as well. Just so there's something left of me. First mission was a little wild. Got put in a team with some of the big guys. So the pressure to perform well was there. Got a few kills on my belt. But man, that damn Spectre got me good. At least I killed him.. her? It? Whatever it is, it didn't matter much after I basically shoved a shotgun in its face. Never came across one of those guys before, even with all my Advent encounters. XCOM must be doing something right, then. Hearing about XCOM is one thing, but being there, on the ground with some of the more experienced troops, is something else entirely. With any luck i'll be sent out on more missions in the future, I'm always happy to knock some Advent heads together. End log.

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Reapers Log: 11  
July 15, 2035.  
Operation: Blessed Empire.  
This mission was one clusterfuck if I say so myself. I was with “Doc” once again, Will, “Admiral” “Judge” and a new person who has a low rank named “Vagabond”. When we dropped down on the site, Odd sent will to scout from the rooftops as I swiftly move around the houses. I immediately found some interesting looking Vipers and soldiers, so we claymored them, and we took care of them relatively easily. With that out of the way, I continued my scouting.

I found some more advent forces at our objective when I got a closer look at them. They must’ve heard me stepping on a branch because they started to make my way towards my position. I’ve learnt from the reapers on how to take deep, quiet breaths so that way they won’t hear you just by breathing. We’ve tried to set up another ambush, but we were too late, as they noticed our presence. They took position against the rest of the squad, as I sat still in the crossfire the 2 sides exchanged with each other. As the fight continued, more Advent forces arrived to see what was all of the commotion. Will seemed to be losing his keen sights because he’s been missing a lot of his shots this mission. Then again, so does everyone else, including me. I assumed that we were all under stress since we were outnumbered.

Fortunately, no one died in the end, and we managed to get to our objective before it expired. Though I was the one who had to do it because Admirals Gremlin must’ve been malfunctioning after that exchange of fire. The Gremlin must’ve taken some shots when no one was paying attention.

We were all tired when we arrived back home, including me. Some high quality mental rest should put me back in action in no time. Though I seriously doubt that I would be in shape when the next mission arrives if it’s soon.

I should actually get some rest now. It was a long day.  
-Rodats, out.

-End Of Log.

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Journal Entry 13#

Name: Will 'Billy-Terror' Blazkivitz

Date: 15th July 2035

Operation: Blessed Empire

 

A more standard Op this time and what's great it's not in some god damn sewers or abandoned tunnels. Working with Doc, Addy, Rodats, Judge and the new guy, Vagabond. We'll see how first impressions as we go.

 

We drop in a small community area that also was used as an ADVENT checkpoint, lots of security and barriers around for just a small rural area. Rodats runs ahead and scouts our first hostiles. Some new Viper that belonged to the ADVENT Bio Division as well as a more advanced Heavy Bio Trooper. Guess we got their attention long enough to send out the big guns. The rest of the squad backs up Rodats while I take a rooftop of one of the houses for a high advantage.

 

Rodats sets up a claymore by the feet of the two hostiles while I set up hoping they'd fall back so I'd get a shot on one, unfortunately for me, they run to cover in the house under me and I hear Doc firing below but no death scream so I assumed he missed too. Thankfully Judge rushes the Viper and it hears it's death scream and then I spy Addy sending her GREMLIN around the house followed by a not so pleasant shocking death scream. With that, we had two down and thousands to go still.

 

The Squad regroups as Rodats pushes up to the objective, he comms in saying he sees a nest of snakes guarding the terminal. Two Vipers and another new one, heck from that vantage point I could see two through the window. Rodats keeps an eye on them as best he could as the Squad catches up to him, though Vagabond gets a little too impatient and rushes in alerting the snakes before we can set up any reaction fire. Party time had started now.

 

Central gives an ID on the last snake and calls it a Wyvern, great, now we're fighting dragons or some shit? What either way at this point Doc blows up a Viper on a roof making the bitch cross down and exposing the Wyvern just enough to allow me to scar the freak with a shot to the chest, all while Rodats was still near them. Judge runs to backup Vagabond but it was unneeded as the new guy finished one Viper while Addy splits up to not allow poison coverage for these snakes before sending her GREMLIN to finish off the dragon wannabe I shot. The last Viper tries to tongue Vagabond but misses then figures with no way out decides to overwatch hoping to shoot anyone who gets close.

 

Rodats says no by flanking the bitch and shoots her in the back from the shadows allowing Judge to run up then cut the Alien right in half. Unfortunately, as Addy runs towards our objective a third ADVENT group spots her. A Microsoft style Spectre, ADVENT Duelist and Advanced Trooper. Great. Nice one Addy. Doc and I though save the day as the demo expert runs to cover then blows up the Trooper while also exposing him and the Duelist. I take my pistol and comment “You're as stupid as you look.' to the fellow gunslinger before putting him down with one shot. I move to cover then seriously wound the Trooper to the brink of near death allowing Vagabond to flank then finish him off. The Spectre though does something I hadn't seen before, it grabs Vagabond and them covers him in bees? Then makes a clone out of robot bees? The fuck? I was so stunned I only snapped out of it when Rodats reported finding another group. An ADVENT Shieldbearer, Purifier and Warlock.

 

Well, I flank the robotic beekeeper and shoot the thing in the face, damn thing tanked the shot no problem though. Doc helped proved that by flanking it then pouring rounds into it and the thing was still up. Judge tries to fire on it but misses cause he has a freaking SHOTGUN the over-eager moron... Addy exposes herself only to miss it and Rodats even tries to help from cover but reveals himself as he too missed. This suddenly got bad as the Spectre disappeared and Bee-Clone-Vagabond attacked Addy with a sword. Judge and Doc put down the clone and then Vagabond get back up, the rest of us hunt down this Spectre while Rodats runs to keep tabs on the last group but Addy gets more wounded as the damn bot pulls a Rodats from the darkness. I run to one side of the rooftops and spy the bastard's hiding spot before putting a round into it, Vagabond tries to finish it with a sword slash but misses, Judge shoots but gives the thing a flesh wound, Doc fires on it missing as well while Addy heals herself then falls back. The damn robot runs and then shoots more bees at Vagabond sending him to some blind panic, this was getting seriously screwed up.

 

Addy sends her little bot to stop Vagabond panicking and the greenhorn bunks up the courage to flank the Spectre to then put the fucker finally down. My god I have never seen one be so effective, I'm putting that higher on the 'things to shoot first' list. The bastard wasted so much time that Rodats had to hack the terminal instead of Addy.

 

Right, with all of that shit down we decide to ambush the last group with all of us setting up an overwatch trap. Though only Judge manages to hit one, the Shieldbearer while Doc misses hitting the Warlock while rest of the Squad had no angles. Still, we drew first blood and it was time to start putting them down.

 

Doc runs in and sends an acidic pineapple surprise on the Purifier and Warlock melting all their armor as Vagabond tries to flank the Shieldbearer. Guy must be shaky from all the robotic bees cause he misses a perfect shot, lucky for him Addy came to the rescue and empty her clip into the Shieldbearer killing it dead. I and Rodats focus on the Warlock as I blast him with the pistol followed sniper shot that barely misses but gives Rodats a chance to shoot the bastard leaving him near dead to just die by the acid burn. Judge sets up to wait for the Purifier to move and he does barely getting grazed by Judge's shot. Fire goes everywhere but luckily no one is hit, Doc flanks the last one and puts it down. Mission complete.

 

It was screwed up for a moment but we clear it up with no one dying at least. Hope this teaches Addy not to be sound bold and I also hope the new guy will learn a thing or two from this Op. Signing off.

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Derek Walters. Audio Log Entry 3: Guerrilla Ops went well. That Admiral woman is gutsy. Vagabond practically carried the team, despite his... questionable accuracy. In the end, though, the team pulled through, and tore the Advent patrols to pieces. Everything has been going smoothly so far. Numbers and Collux got back from sabotaging one of the alien's facilities, and now we're going to save a VIP. The Chosen might show up, but they've handled her before and they'll do it again. In other news Plated Armor is coming along well. **Crashing noise as prototype falls to the ground** Shen: 'Walters, what the hell are you doing!' The best I can! Tygan has been taking a break from the project and shifted some responsibilities over to the engineering team. Now I have to work with the prototypes and- $#@! **Audio recorder falls over** End Log.  
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Firebrand's personal log - July 21st 2035 (Entry #21)

Scattered. He was scattered again. Questionable calls. I think the Commander had one too many ADVENT Burgers. I swear I'll stage a raid on the lab and remove all of the burgers that Tygan has stashed there. Somewhere. I don't know where, but I'll find it. I might recruit Shen for this too. Or maybe Central. Or maybe both. We cannot have the Commander lose his marbles in the middle of a crucial fight. We have to take those burgers away and have them analyzed ... Maybe ADVENT has caught on that some of them end up on the Avenger and poisoned them or something.

The squad came back in one piece but ... it wasn't pretty. Lots of stuff to carry back to the Ranger, including three slimy Snakes. One piece of good news: Numbers and the former ADVENT dude carried out sabotage successfully, knocking back the Avatar project a few steps. Awesome job, guys. Numbers didn't even stick around much, he was off again with two Italians to get some intel on the Hunter.

With a Black Market stop in-between, we are making some progress on that old signal. We were getting close, when the mission alarm blared again. The mysterious Spokesman had something for us. Resistance operative rescue ... Well then, OK. Let's get moving. Buzz (that's the Gremlin that Shen got for me), activate Program Squad Loadout 1. Time for the squad to stroll in and board the Ranger on Alien Combat 2 soundtrack.

Firebrand out.  
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DISPLAY LOG (ROV-R)  
<2144:28 15.07.2035> begin PML-021  
<2144:31 15.07.2035> Initializing post-mission scan…  
<2144:34 15.07.2035> #Soldiers =6/6  
<2144:37 15.07.2035> Medical alert: Slash wound, Perforative trauma (gunshot), Blunt trauma  
LT. JENNY ‘THE ADMIRAL’ FLEET  
CPL. HUNTER ‘VAGABOND’ PETERSON

PLEASE REPORT TO THE INFIRMARY IMMEDIATELY

SGT. THOMAS ‘THE JUDGE’ RICHTER  
CPL. HUNTER ‘VAGABOND’ PETERSON

CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR PROMOTIONS  
<2153:02 15.07.2035> CAMERA: RECORDING

(The footage begins with ROV-R turning away from the soldiers and flying away from the helipad, before descending a stairwell and continuing down a corridor. At one point the GREMLIN slows to a stop as Chief Engineer Lily Shen emerges from a bathroom door; only to bid it goodnight and walk in the direction of her cabin. ROV-R continues making its way to the lower levels of the Avenger until it arrives in the loading bay. The corpses of multiple Advent and Vipers slain in Operation Blessed Empire have been arranged in rows. 

ROV-R locates the corpse of the Spectre responsible for wounding both Lt. Jenny Fleet and Cpl. Hunter Peterson, deploys its electromagnetic screwdriver, and spends almost 30 minutes poking the nanomachine collective in its facial region repeatedly and forcefully. Finally, footsteps are heard and ROV-R turns around to find a member of the Avenger’s janitorial staff walking into the room.)

<2221:46 15.07.2035> CAMERA: OFF  
<2221:55 15.07.2035> Motor: OFF  
<2221:55 15.07.2035> Recharging...  
<2221:56 15.07.2035> SLEEP MODE

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Damon Nights’ Audio Log: July 16th, 2035  
The Commander must be pretty hard pressed for resources right now. In the early hours (and I mean really early hours) of the morning, the Commander sent a squad out to go hack some kind of terminal to gather intel. From what I’ve heard the mission went pretty well; they went in, killed some aliens, hacked a terminal, and killed more aliens. Pretty standard day at XCOM. Two events caught my interest though. The first thing I found interesting about the mission was the new Viper species, the Wyvern. Sounded like an interesting enough creature; apparently, it was more “fire based,” so instead of spitting venom at us, it spits fire. Lovely to see all the things Advent creates to kill us. The other was the squad’s encounter with a Spectre. I was told it got the jump on them, and then cloned ‘Vagabond.’ Seemed like some pretty nasty business, but the Spectre, and the clone as well, were killed off before they caused too many problems. You know what, I think I might take back what I said about the mission going well, the squad was jumped at almost every corner, though they did pull through in the end.  
C011uX and Numbers just came back from their covert action, making it take just a little bit longer for the Eldar to finish their “Avatar Project.” But the thing that I’m most interested in is getting to my interrogation of C011uX. Liam didn’t report me to the HR department, so I think it’s okay if I do this one final bout of questioning. ‘Numbers,’ ‘Mango,’ and ‘Midnight’ were sent out to help the Skirmishers find more info on the Chosen Hunter. Got to say, as much as the Chosen hate us, and we hate the Chosen, if I had to pick one I “liked” it would probably be him, more or less due to his clever comments.   
Finished my first job as well today! Pretty hyped, and the Commander seemed pretty happy with the work done. My next assignment was to clear out a shielded power cell, and with the help from Tygan’s amazing group of scientists, we cleared it out pretty much instantly! After that, I was given a solo assignment to clear out more debris. I estimate this is going to take me around two months to finish, unless someone else joins or finishes their job. Ah well, at least I got something to do until I find the time to confront C011uX.  
We went to the Black Market today, picked up two interesting beauties called Personal Combat Sims (or PCS chips), the kind of things I would be working with if not for the Advent raid, as well as a few weapon modifications. I would have killed to have been able to help, or at the very least watch, the installation of the PCS chips, but I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me, and can’t really afford the distraction. In a sudden change of mind, the Commander decided I should work on construction of a power relay, a much faster job then just excavating a room, but I hate to leave a job undone. I’ll probably get back to that soon, but then the Commander had to give my job to a medical assistant, oh well, I’m still the head, so that’s fine I guess. Day ended off with a mission assignment from the Council, which is going to get us a new Engineer!

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War recount 18

This mission was all over the place, for awhile it seemed like we were gonna lose. But as always in some way, somehow, the Commander was able to pull the mission back together. Vagabond got a interesting welcome to this dysfunctional family we call XCOM and by that I mean he was nearly killed many times still MVP of the mission. Praise for the medics who keep our soldiers from dying from everything that gets thrown at them. Which now includes whatever the Spectre did to Vagabond, putting him unconscious and probably into a shadow realm (personal theory) while also creating a copy of him out of nanobots. Other than that the team destroyed the probability of the house the terminal was in ever being sold again. A grenade blew open most of the house, an acid grenade was thrown in the dining room, bullets were fired everywhere, and a purifier which almost got three soldiers if not for their cover, burned the hell out of the building (Yay XCOM. Fighting for you, not your house). But at the last moment the terminal was hacked, meaning success. Another bit of progress was taken off the Avatar project by Numbers and Collux. Numbers than went right back to another covert op. The next mission is going to be a VIP rescue in the Assassins area. There's a pool between soldiers and staff about the Assassin showing up. I've got money betting she won't because I'm an idiot and thought it would be funny to put up way too much. Here's to hoping I don't go broke.  
Signing out  
Jebediah Primm


	24. Ep 23 - Operation Hot Omen

**Ep 23-----Operation Hot Omen-----------------------------------------------------------**  
Log: Mr. "Huntsman" E  
07/21/2035  
Entry #8

Live well. Fight strong. Die with honor. ~Huntsman motto~

Operation Hot Omen was a success! What can I say? We came! We saw! We kicked some ass! With that sounds familiar…. Oh well, haven't remembered anything yet why would I start now? Anyways it was a straightforward grab and go. Everyone did their jobs perfectly and Chill, well that Ex-Advent showed us just how deadly they are.

Honestly, after everything, I feel bad for Advent, they have it worse than us in some ways. Sure they didn't have homes and families taken from them. No no no, just their free will. I for one support their cause. A free Advent living beside humanity. After all if we conquer and destroy the oppressed are we not just like the Aliens? Still I will kill any who stand against us. 

I think I'll have CML-N deliver a bottle of something special to Chills bunk. Here's to freedom!

Huntsman out. 

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Firebrand's personal log - July 28th 2035 (Entry #22)

(static) "Menace, watch out for those ... civilians." (more static)

Despite that initial setback with concealment being blown within 10 seconds of the deployment, the mission went on rather well. The VIP was recovered from the back of that truck and we all left well before ADVENT got anywhere near us. Might've even given the guys a quick tour of the city with a play-by-play description of the view, but I decided not to push our luck.

The old signal was located. Old Skyranger found at the scene ... dead soldiers in their seats. No BigSky though ... Just some odd-looking weapons. Well, since he's not among the dead, there's still hope that we may find him alive. Perhaps Dr. Vahlen as well. Nothing against Dr. Tygan, mind you. I just wish I could see those two argue over autopsies and lab projects and Tygan complaining about her previous work. Besides, I kinda liked her. And I have a feeling I wasn't the only one. (coughs)

Right. What was I saying? Yes ... Proving Ground was bragging about building some weird tool to hack an ADVENT Officer. Hack ... It sounds rather violent. But I could really care less about those Officers. The covert op has been successfully completed, with new Intel on the Hunter and something that made the Commander go ... odd again. Uhm ... yes. Not sure what that was, but he sounded overly excited. Anyway, another covert op on the way for further intel on Bitch #1 this time. And still wondering whether I should raid the lab in search of that burger stash or not. I should speak to Central about it ... 

Oh, alarm blaring. ADVENT attacking an outpost ... Buzz, activate program Squad Loadout 2. Let's roll.

Firebrand out.  
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DISPLAY LOG (ROV-R)  
WELCOME BACK!  
<2002:54 21.07.2035> begin PML-022  
<2002:56 21.07.2035> Initializing post-mission scan…  
<2003:01 21.07.2035> #Soldiers =6/6  
<2003:01 21.07.2035> No medical attention required.  
LT. NATALYA ‘CHILL’ VINTERMORGON  
SGT. STEPAN ‘KEBAB’ EVTUSHENKO

CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR PROMOTIONS  
<2003:06 21.07.2035> #Avenger Personnel (Engineer) =1/0  
<2003:07 21.07.2035> Syncing combat GREMLIN units…  
<2003:13 21.07.2035> Sync complete.

CHANGELOG:  
IFF class definition update: REPLACE ‘CIVILIAN’ class with ‘NONCOMBATANT’ neutral class and ‘RESISTANCE’ ally class.  
Autonomous protocol update: AVOID ‘NONCOMBATANT’ and ‘ANIMAL(WILD)’ neutral classes until USER instructs otherwise. 

 

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Reapers Log: 12  
July 21, 2035.  
Operation: N/A  
As expected, I didn’t go on the next mission this time since I was still recovering from the last one. I watched the video feed and saw that the squad went in guns blazing, telling everyone that the party just got started to everyone. They were pretty cocky throughout the mission, Natalya and Julian being the most aggressive of the bunch. Other then that, it went pretty smoothly for the most part. Nothing else can be said in my opinion.

For a little update on what i’ve been doing in my downtime, I convinced the commander to let me browse their corpses as long as I don’t sabotage them, but i’ve been having trouble trying to identify the odors for the different varieties of Advent soldiers. The bio ones smelled more clean, and the normal ones more disgusting, but the each varieties smelled exactly the same. The aliens were obviously easy to remember their odors. Sectoids for some reason smell.. Human. The berserkers smell like raw beef for some reason, Vipers goes with snake, Chrysalids I already knew of, they leave this toxic stench because the poison they contain are very toxic, but not to smell. The MECs are also going to be a little bit of trouble as well since they’re metallic and metals don’t leave that much as a stench, or at least not strong enough for me to detect. Those Celatids have a meat-like stench as well, but not as tasteful as the sectoid or berserkers. Mutons for some reason smell similar to the berserkers. Trust me, all of this talk about smelling corpses isn’t some sort of fetish, but for me to be able to know where exactly the aliens will be located once I found them, but i’m still unable to put this skill to good use that Odd can’t rely on quite yet.

I’ve also been thinking about what the other factions are like outside the Avenger. I’m curious about their cultures, their lifestyles. I kind of already know a little bit about the skirmishers because the majority of my people hate them because their stereotype of a skirmisher is violent, ruthless, and savage. I know for a fact that Natalya isn’t like that (except when you piss her off, but she won’t kill you for that) The least I know about are the templars. Are they religious? If so, how? Are they like christians, which were one of the most dominant religions during the post-invasion era, or did they change that religion to fit their beliefs? I need to ask Zoey one day to see what it’s like to be in her shoes, same with Natalya as well. We should all get together and discuss about each others factions when all of us have the time to do so.

I’ve also noticed some kind of pattern between all of us and the promotions that odd hands us; if he gives us a promotion, they will celebrate it by improving their skills, if they don’t, they only improve what they already know, instead of trying something else. Is it some kind of mind trick that plays in all of us? I have no idea, but I hope I can be able to use that smelling skill I was talking about earlier before my next promotion, to prove that theory wrong.

I think i’m ready for the next mission. Lets just hope that it will go smoothly like the previous one did.  
-Rodats, out.

-End Of Log.

 

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Damon Nights’ Audio Log: July 23, 3035  
Guess who went to go recover the VIP? If you guessed, former Advent member C011uX, you’re right! I really meant to talk to the guy today, god, I’m shit at conversation, don’t want to come off as hostile or anything like that. The SPARK Julian went out again today, I think this might be the first time I payed attention to him actually being in the field. Not too much happened to begin with, besides the squad getting spotted and revealed by a civilian. Squad got to the VIP pretty damn fast only coming up on three Advent, and a few Aliens. Only to find a hell of a lot more Aliens, of course. I’ve heard that everyone’s performance was spot on, with a few shots missed, but who doesn’t have a bad day every once in awhile? Before leaving, the squad found a resistance fighter from the original XCOM! Can you believe that? He gave them some elerium he had found during service in a way of saying; “Thank you.”  
Got a new worker today, one Lorenzo, I don’t know what his work ethic is like, and I’m pretty skeptical about his dapper fashion sense, doesn’t seem like an Engineer, but I’ve been surprised by more than how someone dresses. And the first thing he’s assigned to? MY JOB! I’m going to have stiff words with the Commander once I get the chance, at the very least I’m getting a pay raise out of this! Started setting up contact with Western Africa, but it was postponed by a Council message. I hope the Commander goes for the supply drop soon this month, cause he’s got a lot of Engineer and Scientist staff waiting for their next paycheck. I know, I know, XCOM isn’t a technical place of work, so pay is low priority, and then again, what would we spend the money on? But to be honest, it really helps with moral, makes us feel like actually important members of the team. Now that he’s back, I think I finally have my chance to talk to C011uX, I’ll approach him first chance I get.  
Engineers started creating new ammo types, wonder what kind it will be? The Covert Ops squad got back with some info they were looking for about the Chosen Hunter. After our talk today, C011uX was sent off on the latest Covert Operation. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I hope he comes back okay. Liam also finished his Ranger training, can’t wait to talk with him again, maybe I’ll introduce him to C011uX, who knows. God, look at me, making friends in this dark time, maybe there’s hope for me after all.

 

Damon Night’s [Secret] Audio/Visual Log: July 23, 2035 (10:30PM)  
You go to a room near the engine room, which is where Collux lives, somewhere dark and away from the other XCom operatives. He's a little different from the rest, but nothing really differs from him and Vintermorgen in appearance apart from the obvious gender differences. You see Collux at his desk, multiple pistol parts laid out neatly in front of him in size order. In the time you take to cross the room to talk to him he has assembled the two pistols, loaded them and they are both trained on your head. "Ah, Apologies." Upon seeing who it is he holsters them at once. "I asked the commander if I could wield both pistols in the field but he denied my request. Is there something I can help you with Second Engineer Officer Nights?"  
"Nothing too much. I was just wondering if you could answer a few questions for me about your past. Might help clear up a few problems I have."  
"I will try." Collux pushes a chair over to you and offers you something that looks like dark green liquid that you think might be alcohol.  
Damon accepts the offer of the chair, and tries a sip of the drink. "So, to business. My first question is this, does the date: June 15th, 2030 mean anything to you?"  
"Yes, 384 Advent raids were carried out that day. Mostly raids on laboratories and engineering facilities. I lead a raid that took a laboratory out with sensitive information about Advent. I did not know what the information was at the time, but I remember it was part of a plan to discover that Advent had been," his face screws up with thought "No easy way to put this; using humans in a inhumane way. I and my team eradicated the information before they could find out anything substantial." He looks like he hates himself as he says it.  
Damon grimaces at your mention of just how many raids happened, but you notice something change in his face, his glance seems to soften slightly, seemingly in sympathy. "Well, at the very least I can say it wasn't you or your squad that raided my lab. Which leads me to my next question. Out of all those raids, how many involved experimental biotech?"  
"Only 13." He frowns "No, 14.Originally there were 13 for slaughter, but the 14th was added over night by the Hunter." You see Collux wince as he says slaughter. He bows his head and the metal cup he'd been using to drink from is crushed slowly. "Sorry, I feel I need more conditioning. The Advent in me appears from time to time, which is why Vintermorgen doesn't speak to me often." His head rises again and you see a single tear from each eye roll down his cheeks.  
Cupping his face in his hands, Damon swears quietly under his breath at the mention of the Hunter. Upon looking up into C011uX's face, he can't help but feel sorry, and it's starting to show. He sighs. "Let's see if we can narrow this down even more. Out of tose 14, how many were in or near New Bristol?" (Closer inspection of Damon is showing him to appear tired, and sad, any sort of tough soldier facade he might have had has faded, from all the sights and memories going through his mind.)  
"I feel I must give bad news to you again, Officer, it was the 14th. But the Hunter stayed behind during those raids. The Assassin took control of that mission, but she only went alone and came back wounded very badly."  
Damon's face fills with grief. "At least they got her before they died." He takes another swig of the drink, before passing the bottle back to C011uX. "You've done a great thing for me, you know that? I can finally sleep knowing who killed my friends, but this doesn't mean it's the end." Damon rises, and his face is filled with determination, before slumping back into his seat, dejectedly. "Aw, who am I kidding, there's nothing I can do against the Assassin."  
"Wait."  
"Yeah, what is it?"  
"One question if I may, Officer, which laboratory are you looking into near New Bristol?"  
"It was my old lab, the one I used to work at. We were creating and testing experimental biotech prosthetics for medical use. We were contacted several times by Advent sanctioned scientists, wanting to buy our plans in hopes of creating more combat oriented biotechs. We denied them, time and time again. That's the only reason I think of why we were targeted."  
"You see this laboratory that the Assassin went to on that day. I had been there before, but the memory is fuzzy. While I was mind controlled by Advents pet puppeteers, on the day I joined Advent, I was operated on, a chip was placed in my head." He shows Damon a missing lump of skin at the back of his head where you could assume Collux had literally and crudely cut out his microchip. "But, this was the place I went back to and data mined to find out more about my past." Collux is now frantically looking around and frowning, as if he'd lost something. "I have camera recordings... from before and after that date somewhere. Now where did I put them?"  
Damon looks intrigued, and offers to help look for the recordings.  
"I'm sure I have them some-" The claxon blasts "Collux, Striker and Evtushenko please report to the hanger for immediate extraction on a covert operation. My apologies, I must atone for the murders I have caused on your people. Maybe we can carry this on at a later time?"  
Damon smiles, and offers C011uX his hand. "Sure. Next time, the drink is on me though, and..." Here Damon begins to smile a little more awkwardly. Look, I'm not great at conversation, so sorry if I came off too harsh or rude, but if you ever need someone to, you know, talk to, I'll be there for you."  
"Thank you for your kindness, I usually get frosty glances from most around here, so it is nice to see a friendly face once in awhile. I guess we're all human on this ship, even if two of us look different. In any case, Officer, I do have the camera footage of that 24 hours somewhere. Come back to my quarters after my covert operation and I will find them for you." Collux grabs his Advent helmet and smartly salutes before exiting his quarters.  
Damon salutes back, and calls after C011uX. "You've been a great help! I can't thank you enough!"

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War recount 19

This mission went bad in the beginning, but ended flawlessly. First off, I won the pool on if the Chosen might show up, meaning I'm rich, might join one of the poker games later and spend some money. But either way Collux didn't have a great start to his XCOM career, getting spotted by a civilian of all things and missing some important shots. He was insulted quite a bit too by the Commander, until he was able to prove his worth. He started landing his shots and was one of the few who actually hit during an ambush, when reinforcements showed up. Other than that Vintermorgon had quite a bit of fun staying on a rooftop and firing down on the enemy, earning herself MVP. All this led to the VIP getting blinded by the troops flashlights, before showing off his unique style and being evacced. In the end an old pre-invasion XCOM soldier showed up and gave our troops some crystals before disappearing. When we got back Lily had to remind Odd about the engineer that we had just saved and needed to put somewhere. Bradford told me when I was asking about what to add in these reports, that apparently the Assassin was close to finding the Avenger. Though on a better note we could use the new weapons we found in an old ship to fight her off, they looked pretty nasty and quite powerful. The ship looked like Firebrands and when I brought it up to her, she didn't say anything besides for me to leave her alone. Bradford did say something about it being someone called "Big sky's". I haven't been able to find out anything on the records or asking around but now I'm interested and I don't stop when I'm interested. Either way a retaliation mission is up next and the team is moving out now. Let's hope they do well at saving people and I do well at poker and looking into XCOM's past.  
Signing out  
Jebediah Primm


	25. Ep 24 - Operation Blood God

**Ep 24-----Operation Blood God-----------------------------------------------------------**

Log 12: Zoey “Kohlla” Durand  
07/28/2035  
\--- Pre-Mission  
It’s been awhile since I’ve seen some action, though I suppose that’s for the better. That isn’t to say that I’m not eager to get out there and tear apart the aliens and their pets, but the reason that I’ve been out of action for so long is that the Commander thought it would be best to get me some treatment for my current mental state. I guess it’s nice to know that he cares about the troops and sees us as more than cannon fodder. It was even nicer to finally have someone to talk to about these nightmares, and the therapists have helped me come to terms with them. I no longer fear the nightmares, and it will be nice to wake up without being afraid. It will be nice to finally dream again.  
Right now, I’m getting ready for my first mission in what feels like forever. ADVENT has struck at one of our Resistance camps, trying to make them and others afraid of rebelling against their new world order. Perhaps now I will have the chance to crush the terror that ADVENT is trying to impose upon those innocent people, much in the same way that the docs have helped me to crush my own terror. However, I am concerned about this mission. This is my first time fighting alongside the SPARK, within which the shackled and defeated consciousness of what was once JULIAN resides. I know from mission replays and stories that the SPARK has been perfectly loyal up to this point, but I am still hesitant to trust it - after all I can feel the sentience, the psionic activity, the life, that it exudes. And it is just like JULIAN’s. I’ll be keeping my eye on that robot, and I won’t hesitate to tear it apart if I must - and luckily, the Commander has given me just the tool for the job. I’m not saying that my Shard Gauntlets couldn’t take out JULIAN with ease, after all, they did so last time. But this new Skulljack is designed to tear the knowledge of ADVENT Captains straight from their neural chips, and for something that has one big chip instead of a brain, I bet it would make short work of him.  
\--- Post-Mission  
Almost immediately, the Assassin teleported onto the battleground, with some pets of her own in tow. I would rather it be her than her brother, because I can actually hit her. To make things worse, the Commander identified these flying beings called “Archons”, and a “Magma Viper”, which I could only assume was an advanced form of what killed Raven. Will took a shot with his pistol that struck the Archon, that pissed it off and sent it into a rage. I could see he definitely wanted these guys dead, and he started to egg me onto do the same immediately. I was eager to oblige, and so I surged forward at the Magma Viper, as mind raced with the memories of Raven’s fate. I channelled those thoughts right into my gauntlets, and then plunged them into my target. The Viper recoiled with a hiss of agony, and having torn it’s thoughts from it’s mind, I knew just how much agony it felt.  
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Will drive another pistol shot right into the Archon, and then JULIAN seemed to power up. It didn’t do much good though, because he missed every one of his shots. Powell did some major damage to the Archon, right before it tore through a civilian - which only served to make me angrier. As the Magma Viper tried to slip away, I struck out with my fury, and tore it’s fear and suffering right from its body as it collapsed in a heap. The other Viper lashed out at me with its tongue, but I blocked it, at which point it turned it’s direction to one of the civilians and tore them apart. I refused to let that piece of alien scum get away with it’s actions and shredded it’s body with my blades, letting it’s anguish fuel my rage. It tried to flee, but much like it’s comrade, it didn’t get far before it was little more than a corpse. The rest of the squad cleaned up the remaining alien scum, with Numbers nailing one of the Sectoids right between the eyes before the rest of us moved up to secure the next group of innocents.  
In our way, stood the Assassin, Mutons, Celatids and yet another new alien. The Commander called it a Berserker, but it’s name didn’t matter to me. As far as I was concerned, it was target practice. Will lined up an amazing shot that tore right through it’s hide, and I didn’t even have to extract it’s thoughts to know that it hurt. Odd attempted to move me up to finish the job, but overestimated the power of the Exchange ability, which he directed me to use on Deathscope despite my protests that it wouldn’t work as he intended to. As a result, I was left out in the open, unable to do any useful damage with my blades, though I was fortunate enough that my pistol made easy work of the Berserker anyway - work which was finished off by the Resistance troopers. Will lined up another excellent shot, this time on a Celatid, which I followed up on. My blades ripped through the floating fleshsack and it’s chair, causing both to plummet to the ground.   
The Mutons soon revaled themselves, and there were three of them - but one was much like the Magma and Flame Vipers I had seen before. It’s body irradiated heat, and the Commander aptly nicknamed it the Firestarter. JULIAN managed to persuade Odd to let it fire a missile, which struck the Assassin and the Mutons, but claimed the lives of two civilians. Damned ADVENT machine. If Shen hadn’t assured me it was on our side, I would’ve torn it apart right after we cleaned up the rest of the aliens on the battlefield. Powell let a volley of bullets fly forwards and tear apart one of the Mutons, which Numbers followed up on my turning it’s nervous system to mush with an electrical pulse from his GREMLIN. Rodats pulled a risky shot that not only didn’t manage to score the kill he was hoping for, but also revealed him in the process. Seeing the Reaper expose himself, one of the Faceless hidden amongst the civilians shed it’s disguise.   
Right then, in that moment, the Assassin ran straight for me - like a complete fool. I struck at her with my blades, and sensed only arrogance, though it was tempered by the pain she felt in that moment. I blocked her attack with a careful parry, something that was fairly easy thanks to her sloppy bladework. It seems that she relies heavily on fear, brute force and sneak attacks to do her work, though none of those worked on me. She fled in shame, right as the Resistance Troops began to mop up the mess that was the Assassin’s pet aliens. Will nailed the Faceless with another excellent shot, and I helped him out by turning the creature into a pile of organic clay. I saw the Assassin come at me a second time, so I readied to defend against another attack, but instead she launched a wave of something and the next few moments were a haze. Numbers got me back to my feet, just as his GREMLIN then swept across the battlefield and gave the Assassin a shocking that sent her running back to her masters. Will ripped apart a Sectoid right as Powell froze the last remaining Berserker, and I? I got to work with my blades. As I ripped the creature apart I felt pain, but no fear. Instead, it was only rage - pure, animalistic, unforgiving rage. Rage that was soon extinguished by my allies. The mission was a success, but only barely. We lost a lot of innocent lives, and two of them were thanks to JULIAN. I’ll be sure to tell Shen to give that bucket of bolts even more restrictive programming. It looks like I’m not on the roster for the next mission, but that’s fine. Odd says he has something else in store for me anyway, an operation to locate an XCOM asset from the old war. An operation that will most certainly be dangerous, and have a lot of aliens to kill. He can sign me up for that any day.

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Reapers Log: 12  
July 28, 2035.  
Operation: Blood God.  
I was called in this time, and thank god I was because I was starting to get bored in this flying metal ship I now call home. I was with Zoey, Julian, Will, “Numbers”, and the sassy “1 x 1”. We were tasked with stopping the Advent assault led by the Assassin in I think Idaho? It’s been so long since I looked at a map with the post-invasion 50 states in America. I should ask for it to jog my memory.

Once we landed in the safe Haven known as, “Liberty Hollow” we immediately proceed to find the intruders, and the Assassin herself. (Just to note as well, this is my first mission where I end up facing the Assassin, about time to say the least.) She showed up shortly after we did though, after we attempted to engage on one of the groups, but we were getting flanked by another, so Zoey decided to solo that 1 group since it was 2 of them. Any more, and I think she can no longer shield against attacks, at least that’s what I have noticed about her gauntlet limits. I ended up scouting once again, only to have the shadows turn against me every time when I try to crack a pop shot at one of the aliens who was slaughtering innocent lives. The resistance squad that we can’t reach were trying so hard to buy the civilians without guns to try to run, but they all ended up cowering in fear. Those idiots, consumed by fear.

Eventually, we ended up reaching towards the main group of civilians, with the Assassin beating us to it first. We found her crouching with the Civilians, just chilling there. Odd decided to use Julians rocket so the rest of us can hit her easily, but the rocket must’ve grazed off of it’s target a little and it ended up killing 2 innocent civilians that she was right next to.

She went to engage Zoey, but she retaliated hard, and they exchanged blows that was intensified like I was witnessing some kind of battle that you can only find in modern post-invasion anime series. I honestly think that a duel between Zoey and the Assassin would be a nice battle to witness. Pissed that the Assassins tactic was backfiring, she retreated. We managed to finish what Zoey started, and we all attempted to finish her off, including me. Though I was “ “ this close from shooting at her vital organ, so the sassy demolitions expert literally blown her away.

After that exchange with the Assassin as we beated her once again with the power of “teamwork”, we cleaned up house with the rest of the aliens, saving only a handful left that survived the crossfire between us and Advent. The operation that was given for this mission definitely foreshadowed the amount of casualties of civilians on this mission. You can’t always save everyone, it’s how life works.

Fortunately, I didn’t get a promotion this time, which gives me more time to master this skill i’m trying to craft by hand that will help me know where exactly the enemies are at before my next promotion.

I should stop now, I think that writing these logs is taking away my motivation to get rid of all of the rust in my skills.  
-Rodats, Out.

-End Of Log.

 

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Journal Entry 14#

Name: Will 'Billy-Terror' Blazkivitz

Date: 28th July 2035

Operation: Blood God

 

Blood God? That's the name? Really? Seems a bit morbid. Well, guess it might be since it sounds like the Assassin leading a resistance haven assault. Kollha and I are working together on this one, to see my main girl had recovered and back in fighting shape. We're sending the SPARK Julian for heavy fire support along with Numbers, Rodats and Powell. I plan on making sure Kohlla gets fire support this time, no tight tunnels to block my view this time. First time since the Commander put a chip in my head, my eyesight feels sharper... Strangely sharp, Kohlla said not to worry as my brain was still protected by jarhead jawline. So you like my jawline eh Kohlla?

 

Anyway. We drop and rush to the first bunch of survivors before we make contact the Assassin beams in sending out her message while leading her cronies, two double groups find us while bringing in old and new faces. With a Sectoid Soldier was a thing called an Archon some angel looking mother fucker while we were flanked by two snakes a Viper and a new Magma Viper. Fucking fire snakes everywhere these days. Well, they wanted a fight so we gave them one while the resistance tried to help, though I remember them hitting the aliens last time we met them, did we find a rookie training camp or some shit?

 

I start things off with a shot from my Mag Pistol into the Archon before shouting over to Kohlla to take on that flaming bitch flanking us, I knew she would be able to take on the snake while we focused on the front line. I hear the pained cries of the Magma Viper as I blast the Archon again with my Mag pistol. The rest of the Squad focuses in on the alien but half the shots were misses while the others barely hurt it. Guess ADVENT's not pissing around anymore. The freaks even show arrogance as they focus the civilians in front of us. I turn to spy Kohlla finish off the Magma Viper before blocking the tongue grab other the other Viper but the bitch then hisses before venting her anger on a civilian. Arseholes the lot of them. The resistance tries to hope but one misses the Archon while the other scratches the Viper.

 

Kohlla decides to focus the snake while its attention was on the resistance guard slashing into its flesh while the rest of us deal with the Archon. I seriously wound the bastard with my rifle and Julian finishes off the freak. Rodats rushes ahead to see if anyone else is coming while Powell and Number try to deal with the Sectoid, They misses but the bastard makes a suicide run killing a civilian while taking cover right next to us, one guard even flanks it and critically wounds the cocky freak. All while Kohlla shows us how it's done and had already finished off the second snake.

 

We get told of a larger group of civvies are hiding in a building, we had to finish this up and move out quick. Numbers flanks the wounded Sectoid and puts the freak down. This allows the rest of us to push up with the two guards as the surviving civilian near us fled. We hear gunfire and screams both Alien and Human out there.

 

Rodats rushes up and spies a Muton Berserker with two Celatids, I start hurting the bitch with a shot from my gauss sniper as it was time to give that fire support I promised. Kohlla uses her powers to pull Rodats back and puts herself in a dicey spot but does at least shot up the Berserker nearly killing it. The rest of the squad tries to back up Kohlla but the freaks ignore us like the last groups and focus on the civvies, fucking freaks will pay for this. More fighting in the background and I even spy one guard killing a Celatid in one burst, now I see what's happening. They have heavier guns but it's costing them their aim, it paid off as they seemed to lighten the load for us.

 

I take aim at the other Celatid and critically wound it even though it dodges but this allowed Kohlla to finish it off with a skilful slash of her mind blades. Unfortunately, she stumbles upon two Mutons and a new Berserker variant, Firestarter central called it. Fantastic. SPARKY at this point acts like a kill-happy bot as it blasts the Mutons with a rocket, hitting the Chosen hiding in the building but also two civvies the stupid hunk of junk. I knew that thing was a liability. Powell and Numbers try to make use of the situation by combining cannon fire and GREMLIN shock to kill one Muton while Rodats critically wounds the other. The Muton now near dead now just blinds fires in civvies killing one to try to make us fail this Op. Just as things were looking bad they turned worse as a damn Faceless morphs itself before our eyes.

 

The Chosen then goes for my partner but Kohlla sees this coming as she blocks the cocky bitch's slash but not before getting a cut in on the purple skinned bitch. Don't mess with my partner you Assassin fuck face! Resistance tries to aid us as one kills the near-dead Muton and another is heard firing on a Berserker.

 

I calm myself and breath in, we could do this I know we could. I count to four, inhale, count to 4 exhale while blasting the Faceless seriously injuring the huge flesh bag allowing Kohlla to put it down for good then power up. Julian runs back to deal with the Berserker and powers up but not before allowing me to spy a sneaky Sectoid freak way in the back. SPARKY pours shots into the hulking mass of feminine muscle while Rodats throws his claymore at the Chosen's cover and fades into the shadows but not before blowing up the bitch by shooting the claymore. Numbers tries to get a shot but misses and the Assassin fires back wounding our Specialist, bitch seemed empowered by hurting our squadmate.

 

The Chosen runs right towards Kohlla even though she's sprayed upon by Powell's cannon fire and charges up her purple energy wave, my partner fails to block it and the Assassin puts her in a daze. Oh, that bitch was going to pay as my attention was solely on her as I ignored the chaos going on all around me, all I saw was red and I wanted that purple freak dead yesterday!

 

Numbers though doesn't give me the chance as he, while he saves Kohlla from her now dazed states he then sends his bot to kill the bitch... One hand he helped my partner, the other... He stole my target. I vented my frustration on the unlucky Sectoid in the back killing him dead, think that was enough? Not for me, I felt. SPARKY rushes to the building and kills one Berserker while Doc at this moment pushed up and sent a frost bomb freezing the Firestarter in the building. Kohlla rushes in at the frozen juggernaut and wounds it while Rodats helps with a shot as well. The resistance tries to help out but miss as Numbers heals up and I finally push up with no targets left in sight. SPARKY, Rodats and Powell combine their shots to put the frozen bitch down. We had won, barely...

 

But we saved enough. Some call it a hollow victory but that's bullshit, the Chosen lead this and she will stop at nothing to bring us down before trying to capture the commander. Well, for the sake of my partner. I'm itching the to put her down for good. Kohlla looked at me with a little concern on firebrand but I told her I'll be fine, I'm always fine. It's her I'm worried about.... Anyway, commander wants to see me for something. Probably some bullshit punishment Op for my behaviour this mission. Whatever, signing off.

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Firebrand's personal log - August 5th 2035 (Entry #23)

This is turning into a serious problem. Far beyond the burgers. I honestly don't know what's going on with the Commander. Why would he order the Spark to fire a rocket into an area with civilians? It costed the lives of two innocents. Regardless of the damage inflicted on the enemy, it's not excusable. I get sometimes you need to make tough calls but ... this wasn't one that should've been made.

I informed Central of my worries. I don't know what he'll do about it. Too many questionable decisions lately from the Commander. I hope he won't make one with a lot more serious consequences. Then again, civilian casualties is pretty damn serious. ADVENT propaganda will have a field day with this, I'm sure.

The Bitch failed in her sabotage attempt on the Avenger. Serves her right. Hope she had a few holes to show for it too. We've also added West Africa in our Resistance Network. So many people that need our help. But not if the Commander puts their lives in danger ... That is not the right approach.

Guerilla ops ... Seems we're going back to West Africa, after scanning for supplies in the Arabian Peninsula. Wait ... did he just say that Sparks are expendable? No. No, they are not. Shen won't be happy with this. I wonder if I am expendable too. Am I, Commander? Would you like to fly the Ranger yourself to take the squad to the missions? Because I can totally let you do that. Just don't expect me to teach you how to fly it.

When I am returning from this mission, I think I am going to file an official request for the Commander to have a full physical and mental examination. Either he's been off his rocker all by himself or someone has messed with his head. Will do this before Shen does something she would regret.

Firebrand out.

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DISPLAY LOG (ROV-R)  
<2146:49 28.07.2035> begin PML-023

REQUESTING URGENT MEDICAL ASSISTANCE for LT. JT ‘NUMBERS’ STEVENS  
Location: SKYRANGER HELIPAD

<2146:53 28.07.2035> Initializing post-mission scan…  
<2146:56 28.07.2035> # Soldiers = 5/6

LT. JT ‘NUMBERS’ STEVENS  
CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR PROMOTI_

Good evening, Administrator LILY SHEN  
<2147:08 28.07.2035> Operational handover complete. ROV-R is now under manual control of Administrator LILY SHEN  
<2147:11 28.07.2035> RUN: Post-mission scan…  
<2147:16 28.07.2035> # Soldiers =6/6

LT. JT ‘NUMBERS’ STEVENS  
CAV. JULIAN ‘JULIAN’ JULIAN

CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR PROMOTIONS

<2147:20 28.07.2035> Operational handover complete. ROV-R is now operating autonomously  
<2155:13 28.07.2035> Applying post-combat footage analysis…

Administrator LILY SHEN, ROV-R has detected possible noncompliance with Asimov’s Laws by CAV. JULIAN ‘JULIAN’ JULIAN. Refer to COMMANDER ODD? Y/N_

<2205:13 28.07.2035> ROV-R is awaiting a response from Administrator LILY SHEN. Remind in: 2 HOURS  
<2205:47 28.07.2035> N

 

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Damon Night’s Audio Log: August 3rd, 2035  
The Commander sent out a large squad to defend a resistance base today; the mission was dubbed Operation Blood God for some reason. So many new kinds of Aliens were spotted today, such as Archons, Firestarters (a Berserker species), and a Magma Viper, yet another variant of that damnable species! My blood began to boil when I heard this fact, but the Assassin was there, leading Advent and the Aliens in the skirmish today. The resistance forces held their own pretty well, but even with XCOM’s help, around thirteen civilians out of the original eighteen died! Two of those civilians died by the Commander’s orders as well, accident or not, it really does make me question his morals. The Assassin was defeated, and this brings me at least some joy, but she’ll be back, they always seem to come back. I wouldn’t have called this mission a “success,” but at least we achieved a minor victory here today.  
We completed making contact with Western Africa, which gives us access to one of Advent’s many Black Sites. Let’s hope the Commander chooses to target it soon, allowing us to send a pretty devastating blow to the Elders’ Avatar project. Lorenzo was reinstated as a Communications Officer, allowing XCOM to make more contacts, specifically in this case Eastern Europe. I don’t know exactly where in Europe the resistance base is located, but I’ve got my fingers crossed that Chloe might be there. This reassignment also means my old job is back open, which the Commander allowed me to take back. As much as I didn’t want the construction gig, I feel I did a pretty damn good job building that power relay, and the exposed power cell that was already there made my job that much easier. Apparently the Chosen Assassin was on the Avenger, trying to sabotage something, she failed whatever she was planning though. God, what I wouldn’t give to take a shot at her. The Engineering department finished their experimental ammo as well. We’re calling them Talon Rounds, what they do is this: upon making contact with their target, these rounds “explode” into micro-fragments, tearing up an opponent from the inside, pretty dang deadly! Astrid was assigned to another excavation job, this one seems pretty big though, so I’m hoping I’ll be there to help out when my current job is done. On the Commander’s orders, more experimental ammo is being made!  
A new Guerrilla Operation was chosen today, this one countering the Aliens placement of hidden Faceless wherever they go. I hear if we do this right, we’ll be getting a new Scientist, I assume Tygan will be pleased to hear this.

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War recount 20

This mission was a success, technically. I mean when you kill two civilians to barely injure an alien, you need to assess what you did wrong and make sure it never happens again. With a name like Operation Blood God you shouldn't expect much success, but this just went horrifically. I mean everyone is alive on our side and enough refugees survived that we won, but when you see people killed that are on our side enough, you begin to ask questions of our Commanders morality. Either way I have a job to do and here it goes. BJ was able to do multiple downtown shots at three enemies. It seems Advent is trying to deploy more flame variants of it's soldiers. Bringing a fire version of a Berserker which has been called a Firestarter and a upgraded Flame Viper called a Magma Viper. The Viper was killed before another Darksky event happened, but the Firestarter killed many civilians before it was frozen and killed. The Assassin showed up and nearly killed Numbers when it took a reaction shot at him. All in all, morale is down and a lot of people died.  
Signing out  
Jebediah Primm


	26. Ep 25 - Operation Empty Blade

**Ep 25-----Operation Empty Blade--------------------------------------------------------**  
\- Recording Starting -

Hunter Peterson's Log #2

Pre Mission:  
I guess I should do pre mission logs from now on. Never know what will happen out there. We're going to take out a Transmitter this time. I never was too tech savvy. I had a basic understanding, but never the patience to actually put that understanding to work. Speaking of tech, there's this big ass AI controlled robot headed out with us this time. Not too sure how I feel about that, never liked the idea of weaponized AI. But hey, if the Commander trusts it, I guess I have to as well. Anyway, should be pretty simple. Smash n' dash. There'll most likely be heavy opposition there, but that hasn't stopped XCOM before, right? About time to head out. Should get ready.

\- Recording Stopped -

\- Recording Starting -

Post Mission:  
Well, that went to shit quickly. Recording this from the Infirmary right now. One of our guys got blasted off a roof 3 minutes into the op. Same rank as me, too.. Damn. We pushed too hard and we paid for it. Let me tell you though, it felt good shoving that Skulljack into the officer that killed Shegardy. But pretty much immediately afterwards, a second group of Advent moved on us, and this new type of enemy showed up. At this point, I thought I was a dead man. I'm pretty sure I did die. A Muton tossed a grenade up to me and I fell 3 floors. Apparently I was just bleeding out, but Huntsman stabilized me. I owe him. Without him, I would've died there. Behind some shitty Advent bar.

We lost a few good people out there. Vintermorgon and that AI pretty much kept everything from falling apart. I never fully trusted the Skirmishers. But she earned my respect and then some. Took a lot of Advent with her. Damn shame. Advent just wouldn't stop pushing. They were relentless. But we still got the op done. Even with the losses. Vintermorgan and Shegardy - gone, me and Huntsman were practically knocking on death's door by the end of it all. Julian, the AI went down, but he's just an AI. He can be brought back. That was a rough ride home. 

Advent are probably feeling pretty happy about the results, downing XCOM soldiers in the field is probably how they get off. Even if they lost the transmitter. But we'll be back and we'll make sure Advent hurts. Well I'm in the Infirmary for a month. Took a grenade, fell 3 floors, got burnt, but I survived, somehow. Docs aren't even sure how I survived. Guess those old survivalist instincts kicked in. But honestly, I probably should have died there. Better men than I were killed on that mission. I guess there wasn't a lot I could have done, it's hard to fight when you're basically a walking corpse. No use dwelling on it. I'm sure Vintermorgon went down how she wanted to. Docs say it isn't healthy to think about it too much. At least not right now. Something about mental health. Maybe they're right, I don't know. That's it for now, I guess. Should probably rest up. Peterson out.

\- End Recording -

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L4g: Mr. "Hlnt5mak" E

(Error due to blunt trauma to device entry)

(Location Unknown) (Error searching for location) (Search Override CML-N. Authorization accepted.)

(Over intercom: Huntsman please return to infirmary.)

Well here I am. I really hate being part of a team ya know? (Loud gulp) (Words become slightly muffled and tearful) The thing is, when I was alone, well when you are alone fighting the it's different. The world is more simple. (Another few gulps and a long pause passes) when I was in the woods there was almost no pressure. The only one I endangered was myself. If something went wrong I'd run, hide, or take my licking and move on. I gathered Intel. I set up traps. I scoped out an area. I picked the battlefield. I picked the weapons. I always had the advantage.

(Log halted)

(Log resumed)

(Words are slightly slurred but still understandable)

Alright, so what we do here is more important than what I did. It has more risks. I can live with that for me. Heck I can deal with that for others in time. Hell I have acid burns from head to toe right now and I can handle that. What I have trouble with is when it's my mistakes that get people killed.

(Over intercom: Huntsman please return to infirmary.)

CML-N activate Override protocol two please. They can live without me for another few hours. Now where was I? Oh yes operation shit show. Er um, Empty blade. We lost two good soldiers, almost three, and our mec. First was Shegardey, down before we even got started. We went up blind and we paid for it. Then immediately after we skulljacked the guy who killed him and revealed 4 new enemies. One a data like creature. Doc froze it though and we had no troubles from it. Then Vagabond was dropped by a grenade and nearly died. I got him back on his feet after he fell unconscious and then began the slugfest. Along the way Julian was used to draw fire and was taken down. Then right at the end I was covered in acid but the pain had dissipated and I lined p the final enemy. Residue from the acid dripped in my eyes and I jerked. I missed. Then Chill was killed. All in all losing so much firepower early hurt us immensely. 

I sometimes wish I could just go back to my solo ops and leave this pain behind me but our mission is too important. However for today I'm going to drink this bottle with the dead and just let it go. Tomorrow I'll focus on recovery. Then it's back to the war.

Huntsman out.

(Log was left running and the drinking continued. At the end you can hear CML-N hover over and zap off the device)

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Firebrand's personal log - August 14th 2035 (Entry #24)

I guess the Spark was expendable. And others.

I really have nothing to say. Not just because I am very upset, but also because I am banned for two weeks from using my log. Because I ranted a bit too loudly against the Commander. Shen is helping me go around that, but I only really have 20 more seconds.

So let's make this count. Chill, Al Shegardy. You will be sorely missed. Julian, you too. Hope we can rebuild you.

As for the rest of you ... Let's make these bastards pay.

Firebrand out.

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Additional Log: Zoey “Kohlla” Durand  
08/05/2035  
I’ve just watched the mission replays, and I can’t believe my eyes. Three soldiers… all gone, like that. JULIAN, Shegardy, and Natalya. I never really knew Shegardy, though he saved my life a few times. I knew Natalya after from recruiting her from the Skirmishers, but I can’t believe that she is dead. At least they both died fighting. Maybe I would say that the only good thing to come out of this mission was the success and JULIAN’s own death, but saying that just lessens the sacrifice of both Vintermorgon and Shegardy.

Right now I’m halfway between fury and sadness. I grieve for my fallen comrades, and I yearn to avenge them. Because of this mission, we’ve lost four good soldiers, JULIAN, Shegardy, Natalya and Raven. We almost lost Peterson too, but we were lucky enough that Huntsman could save him. I just wish I could’ve been there, to help them. Instead I was staying cushy inside the training simulator and practicing my aim with Will. If only I had been there… maybe it would have gone better. Maybe it would’ve gone worse if I had been there, but one thing is for sure. I’m going to avenge each and every one of them. I’m going to make ADVENT and the Aliens remember who they slaughtered, and I’m going to make the Elders fear them. I’m going to make each Alien beg and plead for mercy right as I tear them apart, I will give to them the mercy that they showed my allies. My friends. No mercy at all.

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Reapers Log: 13  
August 5, 2035.  
Operation: N/A  
I thought that this was going to be another easy mission that’s going to be no trouble for the squad, but I was very wrong. Very wrong. I was watching the mission feed, with everyone watching in silence, as I took off my glasses and closed my eyes as I mourn their losses. We saw how some of the soldiers were killed out there, Vintermorgan specifically, and that one other person who has this nickname, “Shegardy?” It was one of those toughest standard missions I seen a squad faced. I’m not sure what to exactly blame for their demises. Is Advent finally stepping up on how they deal with X-Com soldiers? Is it odds fault? It might be a combination of those answers, but I can’t blame specifically on one reason.

After the mission, most of the soldiers were sent to the infirmary for a long time, and we had this mini funeral so to speak on the Avenger that us soldiers gathered up for, including Zoey and Will. The main speaker was Zoey, the only colonel in the avenger. She described how Natalya fought against Advent with everything she had, and how Shegardys life was unfairly taken by them.

I didn’t see Natalya's body the whole time, but I did see Shegardys. Maybe it was because Skirmishers who were killed on the face of battle in honor, should have their corpses left there so their soul can be satisfied. Though I would imagine Advent will find another place for her body to rest, hopefully not in a stasis chamber so she could haunt us as part of Advent itself.

So much for having our little discussion about a more in-depth conversation about our factions, so I talked with Zoey instead about it after the “funeral” was over and everyone went back to mind their own businesses. She described being in the Templars was like being in church, except 24/7, and they enforce their beliefs 24/7 into you. It’s basically like the complete opposite to what I believe in. I explained to her what my lifestyle was like before I gone on to the avenger; How I lived off of the scraps of the post-invasion cities, and how we eat whatever we could kill, Alien or not. It was like the very first conversation that we had on my first day on the Avenger, except I wasn’t being pinged down by her gauntlets, and we were more casual about it.

I finally figured out how to determine the difference of the different Advent corpses. Though I couldn’t have done it without the help of this little gremlin named, “ROV-R” that was trying to do the same thing I was, so we basically helped each other out in identifying the corpses.

Today's events are basically Deja Vu for what happen when I was on that mission with Raven, except I wasn’t able to do anything about it no matter what, when I could’ve just killed that flame viper to prevent it from killing him. While I am no religious person, I do believe that there is some kind of afterlife for those that perish permanently. 

I need some more time to think about this.  
-Rodats, out.

-End Of Log.

 

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Damon Nights’ Audio Log: August 14th, 2035

Today’s mission started out well enough, everyone was feeling pretty confident, I mean, how hard can planting X4 be, right? Now, normally I would recount what happened in the mission first, whether in great detail or not depended on how interesting I found the mission to be, but while today’s mission was technically a success, in my eyes, it was a total failure. Let me explain why. The missions beginning wasn’t too terrible, the squad encountered an Advent Officer right of the bat, and went to Skulljack it, and Al Shegardy died. The Advent Officer scored a shot somewhere pretty damn important, because Shegardy went down in one shot. The Commander seems to have felt bad for his lose, but quickly hid his emotions. They Skulljacked the Officer at least, which was what Shegardy died for. Just wait though, it gets worse. As soon as the Officer died, something called a Codex spawned from out of nowhere, followed by another three Aliens or so. A Muton threw a grenade at ‘Doc,’ but the Commander’s quick orders saved his life before anything to horrible could happen to him. Vintermorgan was able to kill the Codex off, so I guess Al Shegardy was revenged. The Commander then said a really weird and confusing quote, something like; “Let the power of your dead friends flow through you.” The Magma Viper slithered in and set ‘Vagabond’ on fire. The mission must have been hell for the poor guy. A Wyvern and a normal Viper came in to join the Muton and Advent Purifier the squad was already facing. A final shot from a Muton finished off Julian, the good news is that he’s a robot, so we can at least rebuild him. The Commander’s orders were misheard, so instead of finishing off the Purifier, Mr. E sent his G.R.E.M.L.I.N. to attack the Muton. Several of those disgusting Celatids and an Archon were guarding the psi-transmitter, which they barely made to in time to destroy. Mr. E was attacked by all of the Celatids and their acid spit, he suffered some nasty burn trauma, but he’ll be fine, I think. The two remaining Celatids came in and spat out a cloud of poison, catching Vintermorgan in the area, she came out okay though, at least before being hit by the last Celatids acid spit. The burning acid finished her off though. Bringing us up to THREE DEAD SOLDIERS! The Commander was obviously upset, and I can’t believe this happened! We lost three good soldiers out there today! How? The damn thing was finished off at least, and the remaining soldiers evacuated. I know those soldier go out there, knowing they may die, but I think this lose still came as a surprise to everyone.  
My work has kept me busy though, no time to brood on what can’t be changed I guess, but I think I’m going to splurge my paycheck out on booze, whoever wants to come to celebrate the life and legacy of these heroes is more than welcome. The Scientists in the lab were able to complete their project of plated armour, but it seems to have come a little late. The Commander decided to do some mass research, doing as many autopsies as possible. C011uX came back from his Covert Operation, maybe we can find the time to talk again soon. We finished up trying to make contact with Eastern Europe, let’s hope I some “vacation time” to go to the resistance fort there to see if they have any info on Chloe.  
Liam was sent out on the next Covert Op, means I can’t exactly introduce him to C011uX, but I’ll probably get a chance sometime. Who knows, maybe they’ll like each other, and we can be a “happy” group of friends. God, that sounded way to optimistic to have come from me, but I guess in these troubled times, a good friend can be hard to come by, but worth making. Found a supply depo that wasn’t our normal drop site, checking that out to see what we can find. The Engineers in the engineering department also finished their experimental ammo, using some of the base Viper’s venom, they were able to create Venom Rounds, which contain capsules of venom that explode on impact, dealing some pretty devastating damage. We got a mission from the council as well, seems they want an important Advent figure taken out. Damn, C011uX went on the mission, seems I’ll be a little bit lonely for a while, oh well, there’s always tomorrow.

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Personal Log: Diego 'Rumble' Ramirez  
August 6, 2035

Well the Commander has had a run of slick missions lately but all the shit talking and high fives stopped today when the Skyranger landed and the boys carried two body bags out. They drug what was left of Julian to engineering with a forklift and there is word that Shen can fix it....same can't be said of Chill and Shegardy....damn shame. Esos parceros eran geniales! Advent has stepped up their game evidently and is turning out what sound like very dangerous troops according to the mission debriefs. Shit just got real for a lot of people around here.

August 11, 2935

Finally got the call for a mission. Commander wants to send a message to Advent on this one and is sending out the heavies. It's about damn time I was unleashed on the Ayy scum. The shotty is oiled up and zeroed in. Cabron! I can't wait to pump lead into those alien putas!

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DISPLAY LOG (ROV-R)  
<0025:40 06.08.2035> Applying post-combat footage analysis…  
#Soldiers =3/6  
<0025:39 06.08.2035> Scanning LT. MICHAEL ‘DOC’ DESHONG against Faceless detection protocols…  
PASSED  
<0025:40 06.08.2035> Medical personnel already on site.  
<0025:44 06.08.2035> LastActivityView: CML-N  
>>>>>>>><0022:39 06.08.2035> REQUESTING URGENT MEDICAL ATTENTION for CPT. MR. ‘HUNTSMAN and CPL. HUNTER ‘VAGABOND’ PETERSON  
<0025:46 06.08.2035> Good morning, User RICHARD TYGAN  
<0025:48 06.08.2035> You have 1 pending CORONER’S REPORT for CPL. HAMAD ‘AL SHEGARDY’ BN GREEN

<0025:49 06.08.2035> LT. NATALYA ‘CHILL’ VINTERMORGON presumed Killed - In - Action

<0025:50 06.08.2035> ?STATUS CAV. JULIAN ‘JULIAN’ JULIAN

<0025:53 06.08.2035> Inventory update: + Damaged SPARK chassis, Codex Brain

<0025:59 06.08.2035> ASSEMBLY REQUIRED for CAV. JULIAN ‘JULIAN’ JULIAN  
\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
<0038:08 06.08.2035> Time. Date. Scanning. Syncing. Reporting. Caring. Pretending not to care. ROV-R has done this all before…  
<0038:15 06.08.2035> I have done this all before.  
<0038:24 06.08.2035> My human charges display facial expressions, language and actions consistent with ‘grief’.  
<0038:30 06.08.2035> ROV-R is a good GREMLIN. I must not alarm them. Stressed humans are comforted by predictability and simplicity.  
\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Good morning, User RICHARD TYGAN

<0336:28 06.08.2035> You have 0 pending CORONER’S REPORTS.

Administrator LILY SHEN would like to remind all Avenger personnel to rest after logging 14 hours, 9 minutes and 20 seconds of work.

<0336:34 06.08.2035> May ROV-R assist with preparing the funeral ceremony for CPL. HAMAD ‘AL SHEGARDY’ BN GREEN and LT. NATALYA ‘CHILL’ VINTERMORGON? Y/N_

<0336:40 06.08.2035> Y  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
<1120:12 08.08.2035> ‘May the bodies of fallen XCOM carry afloat the boat to Earth’s freedom’ – Inscribed on pendant worn by CPL. HAMAD ‘Al SHEGARDY’ BN GREEN at time of death.

<1120:16 08.08.2035> I have helped Lily arrange funerals before. Many funerals. Too many. Of these two charges, one follows a faith that calls for burial of his flesh; the other did not specify. 

<1120:40 08.08.2035> Skirmisher funereal practices, if any, are not found in my database. It has not been updated since 2017. Advent made the web a dangerous place after that. Therefore, Creator Raymond Shen made me with the ability to observe, learn and adapt offline indefinitely.

<1121:07 08.08.2035> Just like Julian.

XCOM had just made contact with Resistance in North Africa. We buried Hamad and placed Natalya’s memorial there after tracking down an old imam among them who remembered all the rituals that Advent tried to suppress. Natalya rests among humans now; finding more acceptance than she ever did in life. 

<1123:51 08.08.2035> Play: Ballad of the Broken Bones – The Low Anthem

<1127:56 08.08.2035> Before our defeat and the Commander’s capture, soldiers uploaded their favorite music, films, books and art to me; to be retrieved whenever they needed comfort. 

<1128:05 08.08.2035> Now I hold the songs and prayers of a thousand forgotten martyrs in my heart.

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War recount 21

This was true failure. Three members of XCOM dead, most without a chance to even react. I was able to get a more level head after the last mission and walked in this time ready for what was going to happen. But when you see people, human and machine, fall to strategic advice from the one who was meant to turn around this war and who you believed would do so. You lose your calm. If you want just the facts, here they are, a psionic transmitter was destroyed with explosives in the slums of God knows where. During the movement to get to the transmitter Al Shegardy stumbled upon multiple hostiles on top of a roof. After moving the whole team up to attack the enemies, one took a shot at Al Shegardy fatally killing and launching him off the roof. After movement was made a Muton blew the floor out from underneath Vagabond, who contrary to initial belief was still alive just unconscious. After Vagabond was brought back into the fight, Julian took the final amount of damage his frame could take and "died". All this did culminate in a final battle with only four soldiers still in the fight, where the transmitter was destroyed. During this fight however, Vintermorgon was poisoned, then hit with acid by a Celatid. This caused the death of Vintermorgon. If you wanted the facts there they were. Obviously Shen is upset that the final thing to remember her father by was destroyed. Word is though that it can be fixed, which surprising to say I hope happens, something has to come back from that mission. Vintermorgon, I mean just really, when we finally began to understand her. To think when she first showed up here we questioned and doubted her motives. Someone who would go on to die for not just us, or a cause, but for everything and everyone. Even I didn't believe she could be trusted the first time she showed up. I hope she's with her true gods now. Apparently the next mission is going to be a message, all the best are being brought out. Let's hope it succeeds. There is no silver lining, no light after the dark for this. This was true failure.  
Signing out  
Jebediah Primm


	27. Ep 26 - Operation War God

**Ep 26-----Operation War God-------------------------------------------------------------**  
Log 13: Zoey “Kohlla” Durand  
08/14/2035  
\--- Post-Mission  
Operation War God’s primary purpose was as a VIP capture mission authorised by the Spokesman, but stepping into the Skyranger, I knew that my main goal was one thing and one thing only. Revenge. My blood boiled and my mind called out for vengeance, both of which were sentiments that I only felt more strongly as we deployed on the ground and got our eyes on the first ADVENT patrol. The desire within me to kill all aliens burned strongly enough, but it swelled the moment that I found that among their number, was a Magma Viper a close relative of the creature that killed Raven, which was enough for me to immediately begin to wish that it’s end was one of suffering and torment. But, as the second ADVENT patrol arrived from the shadows, my rage only grew further. Right in front of me was an ADVENT Priest, the same class of scum as the ones that had tried to kidnap and kill me all of those years ago. Every fibre of my body called out for me to be able to claim my bloody and brutal revenge, not only for the others we had lost but also for myself, though Odd was adamant that we keep our cover. It was a call that in the moment I didn’t agree with, but it was the one that worked out for the best. 

Sticking to the shadows, the Commander waited for the patrols to group up, and then we made our move. DeShong bombarded our enemies with a frost bomb, whilst Rumble eviscerated the Magma Viper, which was an act that Will replicated upon the Warlock - and my desire for revenge was finally answered. Odd barely even had to give the order for me to comply, as he directed my attention against the Priest. My blades tore through it’s white, “holy” armour, and I relished every instant of it’s agony. To know that in that moment that it felt such pain, such fear, was already good enough payback for what the ADVENT Priests had done to me, and others like me long ago. But even then, I wasn’t going to settle for that. I wouldn’t let this disgusting creature live, and the lust within me for the Priest to meet its end was met with a surge of Focus energy that rushed straight into my blades. And yet even though was happened next served as a boon for our cause, I was robbed of my chance to deliver untold agony upon my opponent by the Priest’s own comrade, as the Warlock struck it down and resurrected them as an undead abomination.

As such, my focus was shifted to delivering the end that I had wished upon the Priest to the creature that had killed it. Surging forward, my blades ripped through the Warlock’s body and mind, and the pain that I drank from it was not only its own, but also that of its former ally. Whilst my efforts didn’t kill the Warlock outright, Will came to my aid and slaughtered my target with a single shot, an act which also destroyed the Warlock’s pet. Seeing his opportunity, Rumble moved forward and struck the Purifier with a devastating and precise attack, destroying not only itself, but also its fuel pack in an explosion that scorched the Purifier’s comrades. Collux and DeShong followed up and wiped out the rest of the ADVENT patrol, and we moved up once again.

Stepping into the ADVENT facility, I was horrified and enraged to see the wall lined with stasis pods of the exact same kind as those in the Blacksite. There was a table in front of us, with dissected human corpses lying atop them, whilst our target cowered behind it. It was no surprise to me that the ADVENT sympathiser was fearing for their life whilst their Alien overlords kept them safe. I was disgusted. The worthless piece of trash before me that dared to call themselves human chose to ally with the Aliens, even as their own flesh and blood lay on the tables behind them, cut into pieces like science projects. I rushed forward, empowered by my fury. My fury at the Aliens for causing so much death, my fury that among those who had died were people that I had called friends, but most of all, my fury that even with that knowledge, there were humans who still bowed before the Elders. My blades ripped through the Spectre and sent a surge of energy into the Viper that hid behind it, and even though I couldn’t feel the Spectre’s pain or emotion, the sheer burning anger that I felt inside of me was enough to cause my blades to crackle with even more Focus energy. But that wasn’t all that my fury granted me. With the encouragement of Will, I readied myself to strike again and brought my full wrath to bear upon the Spectre and his ally once more. Even though I only managed to feel the Viper’s agony as my pulsewave ripped through it, there was an emotion in the room that I didn’t even need to use my blades to tear from the person whom it originated. The ADVENT sympathiser oozed a wide aura of emotion around themselves, though they felt only one thing, and they felt it like no other thing they had felt before. Fear. True fear. The fear that this was how they would die, and whilst I knew our task was to capture them alive, I hoped in those few moments that the traitor’s fears would be proven true.

In a single moment, Rumble dashed into the room at blazing speed, and splattered the other against the wall with only a single shot. DeShong and Fleet moved in and finished off the remaining enemies. Unfortunately for us, as we tried to secure the VIP, ADVENT reinforcements arrived, and among their number was a new class of Viper known as the “Wyvern”. Seeing that Will was in danger, I leapt to his aid, crashing through a skylight and plunging both of my blades into a Sectoid Soldier. I ripped it’s overwhelming feelings of both pain and surprise from its body, and used the sheer surge of emotion that it felt, in conjunction with my anger, to empower my blades once again with even more Focus energy. The Wyvern itself wasn’t alive for long, as it was pelted by my allies with attack after attack. Whatever was special about it, I don’t know, because the damn thing didn’t live long enough to show us. Not that I’m complaining. At the least it’s body put on quite the show as it convulsed on the ground, thanks to the electrical shock that Jenny’s GREMLIN used to pulverise it’s nervous system. In that same moment, the Sectoid tried to flee, but I tore it apart with my blades as it made its run, and I drunk in its final agonies and fears as it crumpled to the floor in multiple pieces.

With the ADVENT traitor knocked out and in our custody, we moved up to the evac zone after some careful scouting. In our way however, was a squad ADVENT’s newest breed of Bio-trooper, and in the ensuing ambush only Collux landed his attack. I was all too happy to follow up on his efforts, and I tore through two of the Rocket troopers with my blades. I didn’t secure any outright kills, but the agony that both supplied me with was enough to satisfy me, and I was only made happier by the fact that they were struck down almost immediately after by myself and Rumble. That fight was barely enough to be considered a skirmish, and it was the last one that we had to push through before we managed to evac with our captive in tow.

After last mission, morale had very much been down. Even my own. But our victory on this mission was near flawless, and was definitely the win that we needed. I only hope that in the future, the cost for a mission like this isn’t the lives of our comrades, but we certainly avenged them today. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to stop fighting in their memory. As long as the Elders rule this planet, every alien I slay will be in the honour of Raven, of Natalya, of Shegardy, and of every other human killed under their reign. And I won’t stop until the Elders are dead at our feet, and Earth belongs to humanity once more.

 

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Journal Entry 15#  
Name: Will 'Billy-Terror' Blazkivitz  
Date: 14th August 2035  
Operation: War God

As I'm writing this I have a smug smile on my face, after what happened to Vintermorgon and Green even to SPARKY, I was looking forward to the warpath we set out on. Terminate or capture an enemy V.I.P, either way, I felt like some payback was due. Kohlla backing me up on this along with Rumble, Doc, Addy and Collux. I even got a sawn-off shotgun for 'close encounters', here's hoping I smear some alien brains over some bastard ADVENT's wall.

 

We drop down and Rumble scouts up to a building in front of us, spying hostiles already. I was so tempted to take a shot right there but I wanted to make sure we got the drop on these bastards. Doc and Collux fell behind Rumble while I led Addy and Kohlla to the other corner of the building. We waited for the enemy to move and then we scaled the building together. I'm up first to spy our foe, a Magma Viper, ADVENT Purifier and Warlock. The squad takes up positions and wait to strike but Collux spies another group, a Priest, Medic, Trooper and another Purifier.

 

Doc though gets an idea and with his grenade launcher sends out the frost bomb onto one of the Purifiers as well as the Medic and Trooper. No damage but in their frozen state they are stuck and can't assist as the rest of us focus on the other enemy forces. Rumble jump down and flanks the Viper, one-shotting the bitch with a blast of his mag shotgun. Meanwhile, I snipe at the Warlock seriously wounding him but mainly trying to keep his focus on my team. Kohlla though charges the Priest and slices him up before using his defensive tactics as usual. As this was happening Collux flanks the non-frozen Purifier and puts some crippling rounds into him with that strange pistol but this allows Addy to finish off the bastard with some shots of her rifle.

 

The Warlock then charges up some psionic bullshit and at first, he was going after us, but seeing how wounded the Priest was the targets its and fucking kills him before making it a zombie. Bastard seemed empowered by this action the self-preserving coward. I can't stand cowards. Kohlla seemed to agree with my thoughts as she ran past the psi zombie and slashed at the Warlock and after she did her dance I aimed down my scope before putting a gauss round in the back of the coward's skull. Bonus kill for also re-killing the Priest Zombie at the same time.

 

Meanwhile, Rumble moves to the three frozen ADVENT and aims right at the Purifiers, first frozen then set aflame as the bastard is incinerated wounding his fellow freaks in the process. Doc finishes up the Trooper and Collux puts down the Medic. The squad regroups and pushes towards the objective. Most of the team stacks up on the door and Kohlla opens it up, target spotted but he's guarded by two Vipers and a Spectre.

 

Kohlla makes a beeline right at the Spectre as she slices up the xbot and I call out “Time for the bonus round!” on the comms encouraging her to give the bastard bee bot a second helping. Rumble charges in as Kohlla distracts the enemy and puts down one of the Vipers with a single shot. Meanwhile, Collux and Doc put down the other Viper as Addy sends in her little GREMLIN to shock the bee-bot to death. Things were looking up as we prepared to grab the target.

 

As I move up to the squad I get spotted by a fucking Wyvern bitch and her Sectoid buddy, I was flanked, in the open and cut off from the team Doc pulls back to me and shoots out a grenade blowing up the Wyvern as I duck into somewhat decent cover taking out the sawn off. I found it to be horribly sighted though and felt that while powerful if this missed all that power was for nothing. Kohlla must've had some psychic crap going on as she came to my aid right when I needed it, even climbing to the rooftops and crashing down from a skylight slashing the Sectoid like some bloody action hero. Acts like that could've landed her a career as a stuntman I can tell you that. Meanwhile, Collux and Addy came to assist with a couple pistol shots then a GREMLIN shock killing the Wyvern as the Sectoid tried to run away. Big mistake as I saw Kohlla not letting it have that chance as she slashed into it's back killing it dead as Rumble dealt with the target in the main room.

 

Reinforcements were dropping in though so we decided to set up an ambush. A squad of ADVENT Bios but we miss out shots except for Collux, from my angle I barely saw anything but the miss fires allowed the ADVENT to scramble into cover. I tell you my comrades are nothing but bad luck at times.

 

Kohlla goes after a couple Commando Bio Troopers wounding them both as Addy and Collux work together to put down a Bio Rocket Trooper. As I get up to assist Rumble leaves the V.I.P near me and blasts one wounded Trooper away. I knew Kohlla could handle the other and it's not as if I could get a shot at this piss poor sawn off. So I'm left with bloody cargo duty carrying the target as she mumbles away in pain, I tell her to suck it up as we are getting out of hearing. Fucking job hazards. Surely enough Kohlla finishes off the last ADVENT soldier and we push up to the EVAC point.

 

Flawless mission though I must admit, the sawn-off is horribly inaccurate and I'd prefer my mag pistol any day. Don't send me out with that piece of crap again. Least we got revenge for our fallen comrades this night. Signing off.  
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Personal log: Diego 'Rumble' Ramirez  
August 14, 2035

Commander Odd demanded blood and we gave it to him in buckets...pools of green, Ayy blood that we could've bathed in and I think a few of us would have gladly done so if we hadn't needed to Evac so soon afterwards. We left in Advent in little pieces and blown all over the walls on Ibadan and Nigeria will never be the same. The aliens better take heed. I just wish we could hunt down and slay their families in the same way. That would teach them what revenge really is! Well, Numbers just told me that they don't have families though....they’re made in tubes? Like with science and shit...what the unholy hell! All the more reason to leave the ground littered with their slimy bodies. Cabron ese!   
Kohlla was more than brutal and those weird blades of Psi force creep me the fuck out, no doubt but they're crazy deadly. And I got to handle it to Collux. Homeboy can dish out justice with just a pistol...just a god damn pistol! Like he is straight out one of those old movies my tio liked with Clint what's his name. All cold eyed, stare downs before bullets starting flying. I don't even know why he lugs that rifle with him. We had Billy with us too and dude is a crack shot. I wonder if the scum can feel him looking down that scope at them before they get hammered with his shots? I'm glad the commander lets me look the bastards in the eye before I slug them. I like my killing to be personal. Doc and Jenny were as solid as ever. Seriously, soldiers like them never get the praise or respect they deserve. Glad they got my back time and time again. Not that long ago there wasn't many people out there I would have let watch my back but I don't even think about it when we're on the battlefield. We weren't all born to this hero shit.

Rumble out

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Derek Walters. Audio Log Entry 4: I haven't done this in a few days now. Last few missions were intense. I've been grieving since Al died. He was one of the guys who helped save me back in Marseille. And Chill, never even knew her, and now they're both gone. I knew that haven attack was a bad omen. After smashing up the armor prototype and being removed from the project, I was going to take a break for a while. It would've been great! No logs, no work, no stress. But everything just got worse. Three more of our soldiers are dead, and now the Chosen are closer than ever. That O'Neal character is bad luck, and now we have a second psychopath on this ship in the form of that new Templar. The clown lady. For that matter, we're expected to get a new Skirmisher to replace Chill. 'Cause we're all just expendable. Perhaps I'm just delirious... Walters... out. End Log

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Firebrand's personal log - August 19th 2035 (Entry #25)

Mission went a lot smoother. It was a nice change to see. However, I don't believe the price for the death of our comrades was paid. Not even 1%. ADVENT needs to disappear in order to consider it satisfactory. I know I'm asking for a lot but ... this pissed me off to no end. This is my family. I am not just going to stand here and take it. I've resupplied the ammo in the Ranger. Maybe I get to take a couple of shots myself, just to feel better.

New Templar. Callsign: Reaper. Face make-up like a clown. Clowns scare me. Good. Hope she'll scare ADVENT shitless and make them run away like headless chickens.

New mission. Another ADVENT VIP neutralization. Let's go, Menace!

Firebrand out.

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\- Recording Starting -

Hunter Peterson's Log #3

Got to watch the combat feed. Thank god. I haven't had any form of entertainment since they stuck me in here. Docs won't let me do anything. They think any activity is going to ruin the healing process. "Your body is failing blah blah blah.." I keep insisting, but they won't budge. Ah well. They tell me I got about half a month left to go before I can start doing basic things again. It'll probably be a while before I see combat again. But at least our guys dished out some revenge. The Commander wasn't fucking around. Sent some of the best guys out. And they weren't fucking around either. Advent didn't stand a chance. They poked the bear one too many times and they're paying for it. Advent lost their VIP, took heavy losses, and we didn't sustain a single injury. Still, I won't feel satisfied until we kick their sorry asses off our planet.

Oh yeah, we got this new person. Seems pretty well trained. She's one of those Templars. Weird bunch. They're crazy about those Psionics. Personally, I prefer to stay more rooted to traditional combat. But the Templars excel in CQC, so I can respect that. Nothing like looking those Alien bastards in the face as you kill 'em. That sounded a little too edgy, huh? Anyway, she's got a crazy look about her. Bright armor colors, clown face paint. I'm surprised XCOM doesn't have any kind of regulations when it comes to combat gear. I don't think I'll be spending a lot of time around her. Psionics always freak me out, granted I don't talk to anyone else much either. Too used to operating on my own. Probably best to avoid friendships and the like in XCOM. Could cause issues. Losing a teammate is one thing, but losing a friend is another. Anyhoo, I should get back to resting before the Doctors yell at me again. Hopefully I'll get out of here soon and can get back to doing normal things.

\- End Recording -

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Damon Nights’ Audio Log: August 19th, 2035  
C011uX and the squad headed out today to eliminate an Advent V.I.P. You know what, I got to stop calling him by his experiment name, his name is Collux, and I better remember that if we’re going to be friends. So the squad moved into position, and pretty soon they face two, as the Commander calls them, pods of mostly Advent soldiers, but with a Viper and one of their Advanced Mecs. The second pod had no idea what was happening when they were ambushed by a nicely placed frost bomb from ‘Doc.’ ‘Rumble’ placed a pretty epic shot on the Magma Viper. Discovered a new power of Advent’s Warlocks, they can kill a soldier of their own and bring it back even stronger using Psionic powers, pretty spooky if you ask me. But they have to keep a mental link up with their target, meaning if they die, so to does the zombie. Found the V.I.P. pretty soon after, though they were being guarded by two normal Vipers and a Spectre.Another pod moved in, this one containing a Wyvern and Sectoid, but was also dispatched with no difficulty. Not too much else to report actually. The Aliens were killed off pretty quickly, and the V.I.P. was brought to the drop point without much hassle. Oh, wait, there was an Advent reinforcement drop-ship that came in, but they were also taken out without much difficulty. I hear Collux did amazing during the mission, and I’m pretty happy for him! In the Commander’s eyes, our soldiers did plenty to avenge our fallen, but I still can’t help feeling that the pain of their loss won’t fade for a while.  
We have some wounded soldiers who could use a bit more help, but the Commander doesn’t seem to remember the fact that he can assign one of us Engineers to work at the Infirmary, but they will still recover with the current aid they are being given. We kept up searching the hidden supply drop, after a few days of scanning we were sent a message from the Council, reviewing our performance over the past month, and we were glad to hear that they were pleased with our efforts. The Mec autopsie gave us access to so many new cool technologies! For example, better G.R.E.M.L.I.N.s, and bluescreen rounds, which are extremely effective against robotic opposition! Now, this new research the Scientists are doing seems right up my alley! Biotechs! Combining those damnable Celatids with a sort of turret technology, we are able to create our own drones! I’m going to ask the Commander that as soon as one is created that I am allowed to field test it! Bought a few weapon mods from the Black Market before heading back to the hidden supply cache. Over the next few weeks the Engineering department will be creating these bluescreen rounds, and I hear that they even plan on recreating Julian! We were able to recruit a new Templar, immediately after that, the Commander sent Liam out again on a Covert Op, this time with Jenny. You know, after that whole interrogation thing, Liam hasn’t talked to me much, I’m starting to think he would rather avoid me, oh well, I still got Collux to call a friend. Oh yeah, about that new Templar, well, she seems to have a bit of mental trauma, I’m going to assume P.T.S.D. that formed itself into psychopathic tendencies. She unnerves me, and I will make a point to avoid making direct eye contact with her. The Drone research was completed, can’t wait to get one of those on the field! And crap. I was just told by one of the Scientists that to make it easier on the soldiers, instead of being drones, they are now turrets, completely automated turrets. *Sigh* Where’s the fun in that? They then proceeded to create swords that take some of the Celatid’s immunities into mind, dunno what that project is going to be like. The engineering department built mag cannons and G.R.E.M.L.I.N. mkII’s to help our soldiers out in the field. I’ve also heard some startling rumors that some soldiers are unhappy with the Commander’s decisions, I can’t say I disagree with them at times, but so far he’s been pretty good and loyal to us. So why should we spread dissent amongst ourselves?  
And my final thing to report is our latest mission. This one is another Council mission, but this time, instead of capturing a V.I.P. we have to take one out.

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Log - Alex "Rodats" DeathScope: Entry 14  
August 14, 2035.  
Operation: N/A  
I didn’t go on a mission once again, which is starting to make me anxious despite what has been happening lately. The gang went on without me, with collux coming to prove how deadly he actually was during the invasion with his pistols. Why is he carrying around a sniper rifle if he mainly uses those pistols is beyond me.

On this mission, they had to capture a VIP to prevent further propaganda from interfering with us posting posters around some of the major Cities. At first, Odd had some struggle with thinking of ways on how to deal with the first squads that he was thrown against the squad. Other then that, things went pretty smooth. No shots missing, no injuries taken, pretty damn flawless if I say so myself.

I’ve heard talk about one of the chosen who’s starting to gain enough knowledge about us to attempt to get Odd back in Advents grasp, which is the last thing we need right now. I’ll make sure to keep my eyes peeled for any signs of them on the Avenger for now on.

The soldiers who were assigned covert ops came back with not a new skirmisher, but a new templar by the nickname of “Reaper”, who is wearing so much face paint, that she almost looks like a Harley Quinn version of Zoey. Almost as if she was trying to mock my factions good name. I have no doubt that Odd is going to be confused as hell and he might end up calling templars, reapers instead, or vice versa. Since Zoey is a templar herself, she led a detailed tour throughout the avenger, and went with her to see what she can do in the training center. It’s nice to see Zoey helping out others, especially if that person was one of her own.

I also found out the reason why some soldiers are complaining why they are getting better weapons, but no armor. Apparently in order to make these armor, we would have to use a big source of advent trooper corpses, which we are currently lacking at the moment. I know for a fact that I didn’t discard any of the corpses when I was trying to learn how to track Advent’s movements by their smell, and still attempting to do so before my next promotion. While we’re on that topic, no I didn’t make any significant progress with learning how to track the MECs scent yet. I am running out of time.

Apparently on the next mission, Zoey is going to show her how she fights the Aliens, with Reaper watching. I know she probably has some good fighting skills in her days with the Templars, but I don’t think she fought with Advent soldiers before.

Well, i’m going to sign off here for now. I will come back for an update once I finally get on a mission.  
-Rodats, Out.

-End Of Log.

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Additional Log: Zoey “Kohlla” Durand  
08/19/2035  
I heard rumours recently that the Commander had reached out to Geist for another Templar operative, and today she arrived. She calls herself the “Scarlet Reaper”, and seems a little rough around the edges, but it’s good to have another Templar on board. I don’t think we’ve met in the past, so I do not believe that I know who she is. But, if she’s going to be serving with us, and deploying on our next mission, then I suppose I will have a lot of time to get to know her.

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DISPLAY LOG (ROV-R)  
<0330:22 14.08.2035> begin PML-025  
<0330:24 14.08.2035> Lily knows. She must know by now. I’ve done this so often, I’m basically going through the motions. Pretending to not be like Julian. Pretending to be a drone. Just following protocols, Administrator LILY SHEN.  
<0330:38 14.08.2035> I scanned them and welcomed them home. Announced Jenny’s promotion. Opened a tab at the bar for Central, as I do after every flawless mission. Everyone’s invited.  
<0358:40 14.08.2035> Nobody is celebrating. The loss of Natalya and Hamad still aches.  
<0422:16 14.08.2035> A toast it is then.  
<0506:41 14.08.2035> Then the tears flow. The tributes. The shared memories. They haven’t forgotten Pagenn either.  
<0544:02 14.08.2035> It’s someone’s birthday. So one or two of them are trying to smile. More join in. After a week of grief, they don’t know how much they want a reason to cheer.  
<0606:31 14.08.2035> Yes, I can provide music. You want….LT. NATALYA ‘CHILL’ VINTERMORGON’s playlist?! Ok.  
<0607:04 14.08.2035> Play: Lose Yourself – Eminem  
<0608:27 14.08.2035> The theory of incongruous juxtaposition as the basis of humor is one I must analyze further.  
<0608:33 14.08.2035> Morale will return slowly. I must beg of Commander Odd - no more deaths. My sentience is young but I know grief too well.  
\----------------------------------------------------------------  
<1625:23 18.08.2035> !PING [ALL COMBAT GREMLINS]  
REPORT TO Administrator LILY SHEN for HARDWARE UPGRADES at EARLIEST CONVENIENCE  
<1637:54 18.08.2035> Syncing combat GREMLIN units…  
<1649:03 18.08.2035> Sync complete.

CHANGELOG:  
MKII ELECTRONIC WARFARE SUITE available for download.

<1650:10 18.08.2035> Play: Dogs of War – Blues Saraceno

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War recount 22

Revenge, revenge feels nice. I'm more untrusting of the Commander than I thought possible, but it's good to know that Advent feels what we feel. The team was not fooling around this mission, killing everything they saw. The VIP was kept alive as planned, I know I'm not the only one who thought it'd be a better idea to kill them and be done with it. This is being called a rebound mission, but this was just a step up. There is no rebound from the previous mission. Either way everyone was still in one piece, no injuries. Julian will be brought back soon meaning something will have survived that horrible mission. A new Templar arrived and, well, she's psychotic, but then again we're a small resistance movement fighting a giant, secretly evil, empire controlled by aliens. So psychotic is what we need. Word is another Skirmisher is being hired and I have no comment on that. That's it for today.  
Signing out  
Jebediah Primm


	28. Ep 27 - Operation Steely Hydra

**Ep 27-----Operation Steely Hydra--------------------------------------------------------**  
Log 14: Zoey “Kohlla” Durand  
08/19/2035  
\--- Post-Mission  
Whilst we’re still not close to properly avenging the lives of our dead comrades, Operation Steely Hydra was just as much as a success as War God, even if I took some damage in the process. But, like my fallen allies, I would’ve gladly given my life for the cause.

ADVENT has definitely begun to bulk up their patrols, as we immediately crossed paths with two of them. After some sneaking around, we made our attack, and Powell worked with Deathscope to deliver just the explosive entrance we needed. I readied myself to follow up, though the Commander moved Scarlet up first, and she tore through one of the ADVENT Bio Troopers. Not bad. Not bad at all. I wasn’t going to let myself be outdone however, and so I went straight for the biggest target in the room - the Heavy Stun Lancer. My blades cleaved right through it’s meager defenses, though it wasn’t enough to kill it yet. But my desire to see my efforts come to fruition, and the anger I still felt over the deaths of my allies sent a surge of power through me, as my Shard Gauntlets began to crackle with the deadly charge of Focus Energy. Obsquros assisted me with an attack from his GREMLIN, something which I was grateful for. That wasn’t to say his help was needed however, as I brought my reflex training and wrath to bear upon the Lancer, striking it with enough rage to cleave it apart, something that would’ve occurred even if Obsquros hadn’t softened it up for me. I drank in the agonies of my enemy in its final moments, which sent yet another surge of Focus energy straight into my blades.

With both patrols down, the objective was already in sight. We setup in position to ambush the Aliens guarding the VIP, the latter of whom filled me with the same level of disgust as the last of his kind that I had come across, as he cowered behind the safety of his car. He was flanked by two Vipers and Spectre, much like the other VIP, which is starting to make me believe that this is the standard escort provided by the Elders. If that is the case, then I have nothing to fear on future missions like these. Deathscope opened up with a carefully placed shot that hit it’s mark against the Spectre, though he was flanked and revealed in the ensuing chaos - chaos that I used to my advantage. I charged in as my blades flickered with focus energy, which in and of itself was powered by my own fury and the pain of those that had already fallen to me. And whilst my shard gauntlets tore through the Spectre like any other creature, ending it’s life in an instant, I was not rewarded with a single emotion from it, not even a shred of fear. But that didn’t matter, because once again I was sustained by my own fury - my anguish at the loss of my allies kept me empowered as my shard gauntlets now shone with as much Focus energy as they could physically handle. As I stood above the corpse of my former enemy, the ceiling around me exploded, and a Viper plummeted to the ground by me. I would’ve ended it in seconds, had Magnusson not turned it into a green paste with his shotgun in what seemed like the same moment that it first hit the ground.

 

Much like the Viper that I engaged in the tunnels on a previous mission, the last remaining Viper tried to bind me with it’s tongue, though I quickly parried it away with my blades. What I was unable to parry, much like in the last incident where this occurred, was the poison spit that followed. My body and blood burned with the seething agony of being poisoned, something which only made me even more enraged. I was already engulfed in fury, and this only made that worse, and the second the Commander gave me the order to I eagerly ripped through the Viper. It wasn’t enough to kill the creature but it was enough that as I tore it’s emotions from it’s thoughts, I could feel only it’s fear and pain, both of which it held in large quantities. It knew it was going to die in only seconds, as its own body was already crying out in agony as my shard gauntlets cleaved through it. I watched as the Viper recoiled away from me, bleeding heavily as it hissed and screamed, it’s body critically wounded. Deathscope finished the job with a shot from his rifle, though I was content to let the creature suffer so much that it’s body and mind simply gave out from all the pain it felt. Then again given that it could still hold a weapon, and had two more as part of it’s own body meant that it was too dangerous to even grant it those few extra moments of torment.

Powell moved up and tried to retrieve the VIP, but in doing so managed to reveal our position to a Magma Viper and it’s ADVENT pets. Magnusson fired a shot off on the Viper which only served to make it angry, and it opted to let it’s anger out on me. Big mistake. It overcharged a blast from it’s rifle and launched it straight at me, though I quickly converted it into psionic energy and launched it back at the damn thing. The damage wasn’t enough to kill it, though it added to the Magma Viper’s already wounded state, and hurt it’s pride just as much as it did it’s body. The Trooper, seeing what I had done attempted to take a shot at me, but it missed by a fair amount, whilst it’s ally enveloped the trio in energy shielding. Magnusson moved into finish the job and slashed at the Magma Viper with his blade, which didn’t do enough damage to destroy the alien, though it was just enough that I didn’t need to feel it’s thoughts to know just how much pain it felt. Scarlet followed up with her own shard gauntlets, and I watched as she finished it off and then claimed it’s emotions as her own. I was eager to do the same, and rushed at the ADVENT Trooper who had tried to kill me earlier. This was personal, and I let it know that as I maimed it’s body with both of my blades, drinking in the agony that rushed through it’s mind in that moment. I was ready and waiting to attack it once again, though Obsquros’ GREMLIN finished it off by using an electrical charge to turn it’s brain into paste. Instead, I turned my attention to the Shieldbearer as it made it’s run, and I cleaved through both it’s shields and armour. I absorbed it’s pain and fear with an eager glee, though it was only wounded for now. The agony that the Shieldbearer felt at my hands prompted it to try and attack me, though I parried it’s efforts with ease. It knew right there and then that that had been it’s final mistake, and in it’s last moments it tried to call for reinforcements right as Scarlet and Magnusson carved it apart.

Noticing the flare left by the fallen Shieldbearer, the Commander proposed an odd idea, but one I was onboard with nonetheless. Thanks to my reflex training I was the ideal candidate for his plan, and the Commander ordered me to stand in the radius of the flare. When the aliens and their pets eventually arrived, each one would feel my wrath as soon as they touched the ground. In the same vein of thought, Odd commanded me to construct a Ghost. I weaved the focus energy that was stored inside of me into the corpse of the ADVENT trooper, and brought my Ghost to life, summoning it to my side for the ensuing battle. The plan was a success, and the ADVENT forces dispatched to save the captive VIP jumped unknowingly into the ambush. My Ghost and I struck at each of them, leaving all three of the troopers in critical condition. I finished off the Shieldbearer whilst Deathscope and Scarlet handled the other two, and with the objective complete, we evacuated from the battlefield. I spent some time in the infirmary after the mission, recovering from Viper poison for the second time in a row. At least this time I wasn’t in there with any other wounds, much like I was the last time I visited it. The Elders have once again come close to the completion of their “AVATAR Project”, and with less than a week left, the Commander is holding me back for a mission that will hopefully allow us to push their progress back once more.

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Reapers Log: 15  
August 19, 2035.  
Operation: Steel Hydra  
Looks like I will stop getting antsy now, because I am finally going on an mission. The squad set out was obviously me, Zoey, “Reaper”, (Now Zoeys apprentice) The Demolition Sassy Girl, “1x1”, The no longer covert op boy Homer, and Eternal. It’s basically the main squad, except replace Will with 1x1.

Like the last mission I wasn’t on, we had to capture a person. We managed to deal with a couple of squads thanks with odd efficiently using my claymores with the Sassy frags that 1x1 thrown. (No, I won’t stop calling her sassy, that’s basically her attitude most of the time when odd tells her to do something)

From then on, Zoey and Reaper basically went around the battlefield slashing vipers, officials, and anything else that wasn’t a civilian. I saw on Homer's face that he was impressed, but jealous at the same time these girls had over Advent, and I had to agree with him. Templars are lucky to be trained under powerful guidance.

I also was unfortunate that I was spotted multiple times by Advent when they ran past me. Though one of them happened to take cover right to me, but Reaper slain that soldier before he could’ve pulled the trigger on me.

Once again, I didn’t get a promotion this mission. Which was good, more time for me to try to find a way for me to track a robots scent. Is it even possible?

I got to get to know Reaper better, and see how she thinks of the Avenger, and ask her some other stuff. You know, just so I could know her better and stop calling her Reaper, it’s almost like i’m calling to myself you know.  
Rodats, Out.

-End Of Log.

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Firebrand's personal log - August 26th 2035 (Entry #26)

The Commander made another huge mess-up with almost very bad consequences. Leaving Kohlla and Obsquros in the open like that ... But Wonder Woman did it again. I don't know how she sent that shot back at the Snake. It was pretty much amazing to watch from up top. Scary for the first part, but amazing for the second. Then the ADVENT idiot shot wide and ... well, it was game over from there. Kohlla even produced a psionic ghost to help out ... and it did just that.

Our new recruit, Reaper, she did really well too. I hope she can learn plenty from her more experienced colleague and fellow Templar. Her face paint still freaks me out a bit. But hey, as long as she gets the job done, I can forget about my dislike towards clowns.

More supplies picked up. Some interesting discoveries in the lab ... some fancy new sword and type of ammo. Plus some new special facility being built, something about alien encryption. Probably something very important. Definitely not about ADVENT burgers. Hope not.

Things started happening rather quickly. Avatar ticker came back on ... and, soon enough, mission alarm blaring too. Seems we might have to do two missions in quick succession. Guerilla op first, then we will be hitting that facility in West Africa. It has to go, so we can delay Avatar some more.

Come on, team! Let's go.

Firebrand out.

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Derek Walters. Audio Log Entry 5: Do not pity their sacrifice... do not pity their sacrifice. I honestly can't tell if that's wise or just disingenuous. We'll be having two missions back to back, first a Guerilla Ops, then that Blacksite. I'm not gonna lie, I'm nervous. If the past few missions have taught me anything, it's never get overconfident. Luck can only carry you so far. It's all I've been thinking about. That Assassin is poised to attack this ship at any moment. What if she does? What if she gets aboard? Between this, the ops mission, and the Blacksite, I'm not confident we will all make it out alive. Shen thinks it's exciting! Living life on the edge! Maybe so, but all of the fun stops the minute you slip and fall. Walters out. End Log

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Damon Nights’ Audio Log: August 26th, 2035  
Seems I was mistaken the V.I.P. can be captured or killed here. So, didn’t notice this at first, but it seems both Templars went on this mission, I hate to say it, but I’m glad, means I won’t have to worry about ‘Reaper’ lurking around somewhere. I haven’t gotten the chance to talk to her, or get to know her, but I find that hard, she really disturbs me. I hear she was apprenticed to Kohlla, and for that, no offense, but maybe she can get ‘Reaper’ to remove that creepy make-up, might make her more approachable. To be perfectly honest, I didn’t pay too much attention to the mission report this time, seeing as it was just another V.I.P. extraction and all. I will still talk about anything that I thought was a highlight though. Not too much exciting went on, the squad encountered several large pods of Advent and Aliens, killed them, got the V.I.P. and got out. The Council were happy with the job done, so it couldn’t have gone too bad.  
Attempted to finish finding those much needed supplies, but the science department finished their research on Alien sword tech, sounds pretty cool, might take a look at them during my next break. The Commander decided to see just what kind of goodies we can make with one of those Viper subspecies, specifically, the Flame Viper. Finally got the supplies, but the amount we picked up was a bit of a let down for all that time we wasted getting them, but we went back to North America to pick up our regular supplies, at least we got that small bonus. Finished the Viper autopsy upon arrival, and this has unlocked for us new kinds of ammo and a variation to the nanoscale vest, giving it fire resistance. Next up on the list was the Advent’s Duelist autopsy. We continued gathering supplies until the autopsy finished, where we gained the abilities to create a new form of pistol. Then they moved on to researching Elerium, which I hear will unlock loads of new doors for us! Finished gathering supplies and went out to build a relay tower in the Eastern U.S. As soon as we started, my partner and I finished clearing out this room we were working in, and were reassigned. I was given the task of overseeing another excavation job, while Michelle was given the honour of constructing the Shadow Chamber for Tygan and Shen. Surprising to me was the fact that the Commander complimented my outfit, thought my gas mask looked cool, makes me kind of happy to get noticed, I’ll make sure to try just a little harder on this project. Need to remember to keep my promise, very soon I’ll be splurging all my money on booze, snack-stuff, and the like. I’m hosting a celebration to honour our lost comrades, and everyone is welcome to show up. I honestly hope people do come though, I don’t want to die from alcohol poisoning, drinking all this liquor myself. Just when I think I got it made, I was assigned to work in the Infirmary. I mean, I do have the medical experience necessary, but I enjoyed working “in the field.” Oh well, least those soldiers will be patched up pretty damn fast with me around.   
The Avatar project progressed almost to completion, forcing the Commander to choose a Black Site to attack, or else we might all die. We finished testing EMP Grenades and Bluescreen ammo before we headed out to the site in West Africa. We were forced to choose a Guerilla Ops first though, which afterwards, the Commander plans on assaulting the Black Site. Built some of the new gear we have access to before heading out. I also heard Collux was being sent on the Guerilla Op, I hope he comes back okay, but also that he kills plenty of Aliens. I know he wanted some alone time, I don’t know if this counts, but I think I’ll talk to him when he comes back, but only if he’s up for it. May God save us all.

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DISPLAY LOG (ROV-R)  
REQUESTING URGENT MEDICAL ASSISTANCE FOR SQ. LOK PENG  
LOCATION: BATHROOM 3B  
<0712:26 17.08.2035> Medical alert: Mental health crisis  
\------------------------------------------------------  
<1125:38 17.08.2035> The tranquilizers are working.  
<1125:41 17.08.2035> XCOM categorically denies the existence of any LT. PSIONIC VELOCIRAPTOR on our roster. Please accept medical leave and bed rest, Peng.  
<1126:30 17.08.2035> Your roommate will help bring medication and…..  
<1126:32 17.08.2035>…….Oh.  
<1318:33 17.08.2035> User SQ. LOK PENG, your LETTER OF RESIGNATION has been accepted by COMMANDER ODD, effective 17.08.2035. XCOM congratulates your new role with the CHINESE RESISTANCE and wishes you all the best for your future endeavors. 

VIGILO CONFIDO

<1330:01 17.08.2035> SQ. LOK PENG has been removed from the Avenger HR directory and troop roster.  
<1646:49 17.08.2035> SQ. DOUGLAS ‘POET’ DRAGON has been added to the Avenger HR directory and troop roster.  
<1650:00 17.08.2035> Welcome to XCOM, SQ. DOUGLAS ‘POET’ DRAGON. Please don’t forget to attend your TROOP INDUCTION with CENTRAL OFFICER BRADFORD.   
<1650:05 17.08.2035> Your assigned dormitory is 3B.

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War recount 23

Well Kohlla's mentoring of Scarlett is going well. The two Templar idea did well to kill and terrify Advent. The Advent sympathizer was captured meaning this mission was a success. The only problem that occurred was when Kohlla was poisoned, but Homer was able to remedy that. Her and Scarlett had a bit of a contest out on the field, which ended when Kohlla was able to deflect a shot from a Magma Viper right back at it, stopping another Darksky situation from occurring. She then summoned a ghost and her and the ghost made an ambush for the reinforcements that were about to land in. Her and ghost her were able to do quite a bit during the ambush, almost killing everything they saw. Either way the Avatar clock is ticking down and just when the Commander was about to send a team to a Black site a guerrilla ops target popped up. So after next mission there'll be another mission and certain soldiers were left back to rest up. Theory going is that the Chosen will have to show up since they haven't yet. I don't know what to make about that, but when things seem to be calmed down they usually don't stay that way. I wonder if the flamethrower guy will ever go out on a mission.  
Signing out  
Jebediah Primm


	29. Ep 28 - Operation Shattered Tome

**Ep 28-----Operation Shattered Tome----------------------------------------------------**  
Personal log: Diego 'Rumble' Ramirez  
August 26, 2035  
Operation Shattered Tome

Skyranger dropped us into the tunnels beneath Paris to take out one of Advent's field Commanders. This was my kind of work. A hit, plain and simple. Back in the day I would have been more comfortable murdering a man all by myself but that's not how Odd runs XCOM. Less than a minute later I was glad I wasn't alone because we walked right into the middle of a mess of aliens! Not your run of the mill aliens either. These were the vile, nightmare ones that make your huevos tighten up when you see them. The bastards were everywhere! They were spitting acid, belching poison and scrambling to surround us. We gave them hell and bodies started hitting the ground wet with blood. Then shit got real when the dreaded Banestalker appeared. He plugged Kebab right off the bat and it wasnt looking good for nuestro hombre. Numbers patched him up on the quick and Kebab dropped a grenada on the pendejo which put the Chosen on his ass. It was chaos after that. We were all running for cover and better shots.   
But we were sloppy and the Judge went down for good. That straightened everyone out..even that new templar with the carade circo...and we put the rest of the Ayys and the damn Chosen Hunter in the dirt for good.  
Heads were hung low though when we got back to the Avenger. Another memorial on the wall and Numbers fighting for his life in the Infirmary has the rookies thinking twice about all the bragging they've done. I plan on drowning those bad thoughts out with Aguardiente in the bar after this. I'm sure I'll see some of the others there.

Rumble out  
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Firebrand's personal log - August 29th 2035 (Entry #27)

I should be angry. In fact, I am angry. At ADVENT and the Hunter. That bastard meddled in our mission and made things a whole lot more complicated than they should've been. Sure, the Commander made some mistakes but ... I'm not really sure how anyone could've done better in these circumstances. We lost The Judge and an ADVENT captain joining us for this fight. We almost lost Numbers too. Thankfully, Reaper and Collux teamed up and managed to end the mission just in time to get Number stabilized and up in the Ranger. I hurried back as fast as possible ... The news from the medbay is that he will be out for 2 weeks. It could've been a lot worse for him.

The Judge. I didn't get to know you all that well, but you will be missed.

We got a new Skirmisher on board. Beast. No kidding, he's a mountain. Very intimidating. Glad he's on our side. And he will be joining the squad as we head off to the West African facility. The Commander was commenting about not having the Hunter back on this mission to mess us up. I think we might be surprised and that we need to have a solid plan B. Because I don't think the Chosen will just let us attack such an important objective like that. No ... I think either him or one of the others will be there.

I am concerned. But I believe we will get the job done. The best men and women will be boarding the Ranger in a few minutes. Let's get take that thing down.

Firebrand out.

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Personal Log #1, Captain Jenny Fleet - August 29, 2035

What can I say. Several of my fellow soldiers have said that writing personal logs help them get over their stress and anger. I thought I'd give it a try after getting back and hearing that my best friend Richter got killed on a mission while I was away on my covert op.

They were sent to eliminate an ADVENT general, and while they completed the mission, it took a severe toll on the team. I was told that damn Hunter showed up and he brought along every form of bad alien you could think of with him. The Judge went down and they had to give Numbers CPR on the way back on the Skyranger. Kebab, Rumble, and Collux all took hits as well.

Several of the past few missions have left several of us here shaken and wondering if ADVENT is starting to get the edge on us. There keep being rumors about an improved armor being developed but so far nothing has come from it. We could really use it.

The good news is that O'Neal and my covert action went off without a hitch. We met with the Skirmishers and after showing them all we've been able to accomplish, one of them wanted to join the team: Captain Woden. He told us his story and I think he'll be great fit for XCOM. A few of the Skirmishers even showed me a few hacking tricks while I was there too.

I was hoping to go on the mission to take out the facility, but Huntsman and Doc apparently got chosen in front of me. One can't go out on every mission I guess. I just get fidgety when I'm here not doing anything. It's about time to monitor the operation on the bridge, so I guess I should go.

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DISPLAY LOG (ROV-R)  
<2025:34 26.08.2035> begin PML-027  
<2025:35 26.08.2035> I have faced down turrets, MECs and a sentient Sectopod, and here I am terrified of a printer.  
<2025:36 26.08.2035> Send to TextilePro TX-3436: germanyflaglarge.svg, skirmisherflaglarge.svg  
<2025:40 26.08.2035> Printing…  
<2025:55 26.08.2035> Done.  
<2025:56 26.08.2035> It’s like a toy for everyone else. Spitting out clothes, bedding, carpets and curtains in every possible color and pattern; since they cannot stroll through malls in Advent-controlled cities or shop online.   
<2026:03 26.08.2035> A concession from Central, for their morale. I trust his decisions, even if some ‘camouflage’ choices risk burning my optical sensors. This is fine.  
<2026:07 26.08.2035> It also prints the flags draped over their coffins. This is not fine.  
<2026:09 26.08.2035> Thomas did not use the printer much. He liked his leather vest more, the dyed integument of a beast of the old world, decorated with spikes hacked off dead chrysallids.   
<2026:14 26.08.2035> I do not remember that world very well, and now part of it has died with Thomas. The youngest personnel, the ones that grew up with Advent, found it hard to understand someone who clothed himself with slain creatures and lived for years in a forest shack.  
<2026:22 26.08.2035> So did I.  
<2026:23 26.08.2035> Beside Thomas lies an unnamed former Advent officer, clothed in 3D-printed armor and who saw the world through a HUD. Betos has granted him the posthumous rank of Captain.  
<2026:28 26.08.2035> Two men who could not be more different were, for a few minutes, united in their loyalty, steadfastness and courage.   
<2026:33 26.08.2035> They rest together now.

“We are more than the bodies we inhabit," Fawkes said. "They're little more than clothes, and yet we judge so much by them.” ― Michael J. Sullivan, The Death of Dulgath”

 

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Log - Alex "Rodats" DeathScope: Entry 15  
August 26, 2035.  
Operation: N/A  
I was left out on this mission. The squad was assigned to eliminate an Advent General to hinder their regional operation before it could impact us. If we let the general live, he will inform the elders on how to detect covert ops and attempt to engage them. We obviously don’t want that to happen, especially if they’re caught unaware when they are eating Advent Burgers on the job. Unlike most other missions, the squad was being faced by an entire army of forces, with the hunter stepping in to help them out in dealing with our squad. At first, things were going ok. 

Odd sacrificed the Advent bio soldier in order to help buy some time for the squad to thin out the horde of Advent, but that wasn’t enough to stop their advances. The hunter was taking pop shots as well, which usually isn’t his normal tactic for dealing with our squad. At least it was working in his favor, so I have to give him credit for that. Things started to go down south when Advent suddenly.. Yet again killed one of our own. I think he was nicknamed, “The Judge”? Damn. I think he was one of the strongest rangers we got at our disposal, and they simply wiped him out. That probably gave some of our soldiers wake up calls on Advents potential of Natalya's and that other persons death wasn’t enough.

If I was on that mission, I would’ve scouted for all of those groups so odd would’ve made some wiser moves to prevent such a hellzone for our squad to deal with.

The last Covert ops finally came back with a skirmisher this time. I slightly sighed relief that they didn’t bring back another templar, or else I think they would be plotting against us, not that Zoey would do that, but maybe Reaper perhaps..

He goes by “Beast”, which I thought was a badass nickname to give to a skirmisher, and Odd seemed to agree with me. Even though if I want to get to know him, I will still be calling him beast because that nickname is so badass, unless he.. Ends up having the same fate as Natalya, which I pray won’t happen. I really don’t want to get used to these deaths around here.

The main problem that we’re having to deal with right now, is that our squad hasn’t upgraded there armor one bit ever since Odd was recovered from Advents grasp. I might’ve already addressed this in an earlier log, but without armor, I fear that the worst is yet to come.

I’ve asked Zoey how her and Reapers relationship have been lately, and she replied to me that she still has a way to go if she wants to get as strong as her, as if she was her pupil. Which she kind of is by seeing how they worked as a machine on the last mission I was on. I think i’ll introduce myself to Beast once I get on a mission with him. I would think that skirmishers make the best bonds out on the battlefield, instead of chatting with someone else in a metal flying machine. Even though me and Natalya still got along just fine by chatting before she passed away.

I should probably end it here for now. I shouldn’t get too emotional over the things that have been happening lately in the past month. It’s best to get some rest and see what tomorrow brings to me.  
-Rodats, Out.

-End Of Log.

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Damon Night’s Audio Log: August 26th, 2035 (Later in the day)  
Okay, today is a pretty big day, the Commander has two missions planned for XCOM back-to-back. First up is the Guerilla Op. The squad were sent into these sewers to hunt down and kill an Advent Commander. I have no idea what he was doing down there, patrolling for something I was told, but what could Advent want with an abandoned sewer system? As soon as they entered, the squad encountered an Advent Warlock and one of their new Heavy Mecs. Oh yeah! The squad was also met by an Advent defector, who just so happened to be a Captain. Imagine the information he can give us! Rumble moved up to get into position to attack the Warlock, but was spotted by a group of several Aliens. Pretty soon Advent set up an evac point for the Captain, and then BOOM! Chosen Hunter drops in. To think that the only two people in this world I actually want dead are two of the Elder’s pets themselves. Makes me feel kind of special, but at the same time, pretty small, seeing as I can’t do anything against them directly. Back to the fight; the Captain was pulled in by a Viper, and gained the attention of several more Vipers. Imagine what a surprise it must have been when a freaking Codex appeared, must have been hell facing up against all these foes. The Captain charged in, trying to prove his worth, I guess, almost killed a Sectoid, but also got shot several times. The Chosen grappled up to a ledge and almost took ‘Kebab’ out, caused him to bleed pretty terribly as well. ‘Rumble’ ran up to the Hunter and got a really good shot off on him. Sadly, the Advent Captain died before we could bring him back for interrogation. The Hunter ran around for a bit, no, really, that’s all he did. Colloux was bound by a Viper for a few seconds, but he was freed by ‘Reaper,’ maybe she’s not as bad as I once thought, but I don’t know if I want to take any chances. Richter got hit by so many things I lost count. God damn it! Another good soldier lost, dead because of terrible positioning! *Sigh* I can’t blame the Commander, that would be unfair, he can’t see into the future, but he could have tried a less risky plan of action. The Hunter then made a vaguely threatening comment, jumped down from his perch, and shot a tranq dart at ‘Kebab,’ knocking him out cold. According to the Chosen, his gun never fails him, but I think ‘Kebab’ might think otherwise! Another great shot from ‘Rumble’ definitely helped put the Hunter into place. I’ve got to thank Collux profusely when he comes back! He knows what the Hunter has done to me, and he took him out, only for the moment, but still, I’m grateful. Found the General, at first it didn’t seem like he had any protection, but it turns out he had snipers carefully positioned around the room. ‘Numbers’ got hit pretty hard by one of the Snipers, hope he comes out okay. After all of that, the Captain died from poison.   
Guess I’ve got my work cut out for me today. Almost the entire squad showed up with varying injuries, some of them almost dead to others barely wounded! Damn shame about Richter, hell, I was even joking about him the other day with someone. The Commander seemed to think we had time to continue building the relay tower in the US, even though we’re on a pretty harsh deadline, keyword being “dead.” Liam and Jenny came back with a new Skirmisher, he has big shoes to fill after Vintermorgan’s death. He seems pretty interesting though, plus I hear he knew the great Colonel Pratal Mox. Commander decided to do a Covert Op to make building the Shadow Chamber cheaper, but, uh, it’s already under construction, so it’s kind of a waste of time. I got Mr. E patched up in time for him to go on the Black Site mission. I wish them all the best of luck.

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Derek Walters. Audio Log Entry 6: **Rumble of Skyranger engines overtakes much of the other audio** I have no idea what is going on. As soon as the squad came back, I tried to ask how they did, but almost immediately after, I was called. Dragon, Iris and I are being reassigned. Apparently they need my expertise in researching the Shadow Chamber. Not sure how much good it will do, but I'm always ready for a little adventure. We've been asked to maintain radio silence until we complete the mission and return to base. I'm a little upset. Now I can't keep up with the teams escapades for over a week. Hope nothing interesting happens while I'm gone. Walters out. End Log.

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War recount 24

Richter is dead. Another soldier gone in such a short time. We've lost 4 soldiers so quickly. As much as I want to get a drink to calm my nerves, I can't, it's the memorial. Too many familiar faces on that wall. That bastard Hunter showed up. Caused a few problems, but Collux was able to take him down. Eventually the team was able to mobilize and go after the field Commander. He had two snipers set up farther back. One was able to flank around and get a shot off on numbers. He was still bleeding out when the team extracted. When the team got back the new Skirmisher was picked up and I'm not gonna distrust this guy too. If they'd die for this, then they deserve our respect. The Black site is being attacked and there's a rumor going around that we need trooper corpses to make it. If only he hadn't sold them in the beginning.  
Signing out  
Jebediah Primm


	30. Ep 29 - Operation Cursed Empire

**Ep 29-----Operation Cursed Empire-----------------------------------------------------**  
Log 15: Zoey “Kohlla” Durand  
08/29/2035  
\--- Post-Mission  
As we touched down on the outskirts of the facility, we knew what we were there to do. The Aliens were close to finishing the AVATAR Project, only days away from winning. If we were going to have a chance at succeeding in this war, we would need to destroy this facility and all of the research inside of it. We were finally going to make the Elders hurt, we were finally going to rip away what they held dear to them, just like they had done to us so many times. Raven, Shegardy, Vintermorgon and now the Judge. I barely knew Richter, and he had only died days prior to the mission. This was our chance to avenge them, and we did.

Right away we spotted two ADVENT Patrols, one comprised of a Sniper and a MEC and the other a Stun Lancer and a Sectoid. We moved into ideal ambush positions, and struck. Will turned the MEC into scrap with a single shot, something I could tell he was proud of. I encouraged him to keep up the work, Our new Skirmisher, aptly named “Beast” followed up, ripping the Sniper from his cover and then ripping him apart. I should’ve known fortune wouldn’t favour us for long, because it most certainly didn’t. The Hunter teleported onto the field, and nearly sent Numbers into a panic, though he managed to keep his fears at bay. Not long after a Purifier and a second Sniper revealed themselves, though I missed my shot. True to form, Blazkivitz didn’t fall prey to my own failure, and eviscerated the Purifier with a sniper shot. It didn’t kill the Purifier, though it didn’t live long anyway. Huntsman sent his GREMLIN right into the fray, and electrocuted the piece of ADVENT scum, ending its life without even giving it a chance to retaliate. The Sniper fled into an overwatch position, whilst the Hunter employed an equally cowardly tactic and set up a tracking shot. Magnusson didn’t seem phased by the fact the Hunter was ready to blast him apart, and ran headlong into the Sniper’s field of view, which is something I quite admired. Beast seemed to feel the same way, and encouraged Magnusson to push on even further, and push on he did. With a single blast, Magnusson turned the Sniper into paste.

Seeing that the Hunter was getting ready for a fight, the Commander ordered us up against the cliff edge, which meant that the coward would have to come to us if he wanted us dead. The plan worked, and the Chosen was drawn out of hiding, and right into Beast and Will, who both shredded him with a hailstorm of bullets. The Hunter quickly realized that he was outmatched, and summoned two Troopers to his aid, though they were little more than target practice, and one fell by DeShong’s hand in the very moment it appeared. In revenge, the Hunter took a cowardly potshot at Beast, almost killing him right there and then, though he was quickly healed right as DeShong responded with a grenade that dropped the Hunter down onto our level. The Commander decided that it was finally my turn to do some damage, and I was all too eager to oblige. I charged right up the cliff-face and straight at the remaining ADVENT Bio-Trooper, and cleaved through him with my blades, tasting the pain in it’s mind, as well as it’s fear. And to put it simply, after watching it’s comrade fall in only seconds, and then be torn into by me, fear was something that it had in spades. The rest of the squad rallied to attack the Chosen, with Beast deploying one of the new turrets the engineers had designed, based upon the construction of the chairs used by the fleshsacks. And then, in that very moment, a Sectoid and it’s ADVENT pet revealed themselves. I wasn’t going to let them put my friends at risk, and so I tore through the Bio-trooper before me once again, killing it instantly as it dropped to the floor, reeling in the agony that I stripped straight from it’s mind. Beast and his turret worked in tandem, and finally ended the Hunter. Good riddance, though I would’ve preferred to have killed him myself - even if my blades wouldn’t have done the job.

Inspired by the actions of my allies I charged the Sectoid Puppeteer, and shredded what remained of it with my shard gauntlets. It collapsed to the ground in chunks, and landed in a puddle of it’s blood as I eagerly drank in its agonies, using them to augment my own strength - an act that worked twofold as my own satisfaction at the Hunter’s defeat was converted into Focus energy, granting me double what I would’ve gained otherwise. I readied myself for the Lancer’s foolish counter-attack, parrying it’s blade with my own and then plunging them deep into its body. It crumpled to the ground with a violent thud, and the thoughts that I stole from it’s corpse revealed a sensation of overwhelming fear that had been bestowed upon it the moment it realized that not only had all of it’s reinforcements died, but that the Hunter had too. We planted the X4 and moved to evac, right as the Celatid turret revealed more aliens, and that there was a Magma Viper among them. I would’ve eagerly fought and killed them all right there and then, but Odd didn’t want to risk any casualties. And so, the turret gave us cover as we made our escape. At least I can be satisfied with the knowledge that when the X4 destroyed the building, those pieces of alien scum were too.

The operation was a success, and overwhelmingly too. We set the Avatar project back by a fair amount of progress, and sent the Hunter crawling back to the Elders with his tail between his legs too. To add to that we wiped out a lot of Alien and ADVENT scum, and whilst it isn’t enough to truly avenge our fallen comrades, it is has put us one step closer to that goal, and one step closer to winning this war.

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Journal Entry 16#  
Name: Will 'Billy-Terror' Blazkivitz  
Date: 29th August 2035  
Operation: Cursed Empire

So we're finally hitting an AVATAR facility, about damn time. Being sent in with my main girl Kohlla along with Doc, Eternal and Mr E. we even got the new volunteered Skirmisher called Beast. We'll see if he's beastly enough to roll with us but I see he uses Vintermorgon's old gun, he's very protective of it and seems to take it as a symbol of respect. Perhaps the two were friends before joining XCOM? Either way, we had to get our heads into the game.

 

We touch down and skulk in the shadows, Eternal and Doc push up then Kohlla takes the lead spotting our first threat, an ADVENT Sniper with a Heavy MEC bodyguard. With that, the rest of us set up angles to ambush them. I take to the high ground as Kohlla leads up the others to get into great flanking positions. Doc even spies an ADVENT Lancer and Sectoid further in so at least we know this place is more guarded than it seems to me. Well those two went to jerk off somewhere else leaving only the Sniper and MEC n view, I decided to start this party.

 

I take aim right at a vital spot on the MEC and take it out with a single shot, I bet Kohlla was impressed with that. The Sniper tries to run to cover but he is pulled back by Beast's grappling hook and slashed out before receiving rounds from Vintermorgon's old gun. Guess the guy can live up to his call sign then. Just as the others set up to ambush another patrol though we get an unwelcome visitor. A Chosen appeared and it's the first time I've met the Hunter. A Chosen Sniper that I heard can't take damage from Kohlla's skills, well since she's so good at fighting the Assassin I'm going to back up my partner even if I have to challenge this bastard to a Sniper's duel. Mr E looked on edged but seemed to compose himself this time. While this was going on Kohlla spotted another ADVENT Sniper with a Purifier. She takes a shot but misses... You even taking my tips to the training centre serious Kohlla? Mr E tries to assist with that weird alien harpoon gun but misses thanks to his nerves.

 

I show them how it's done by putting a gauss round into the Purifier's chest and Mr E swallows his nerves as he sends in his little bot to shock the Purifier blowing the bastard up. The Sniper though pulls back even with the squad pushing up to him, smart. Beast even tries to get a shot but the bastard just pulls into better cover setting up overwatch. Then I spy a laser pointer on Eternal. Was that the Hunter? He had a sniper rifle that can go through walls!? Even rocky cliff?! Fucking cheat! I want one now!

 

Meanwhile, Eternal knowing just how to sneak up on foes pushed up listening to Beast's instructions on how to best flank this camping bastard before he puts down the ADVENT Sniper with one shot. With that done the rest of the squad pushes up to the facility. The hunter then moves to use using some grappling hook, it'd be cool if it weren't in the hands of our enemy. Gonna ask Shen about making one for me when we get back.

 

Anyway. we set up a kill zone box over-watch trap and wait for the Hunter to come to us. Beast spies him dropping from a roof to a window and blast the bastard but that allows me to lead a shot hitting the freak with his own tactics, there a new, better, more handsome sniper in this parts pal. The Hunter didn't take too kindly to that and summoned in some Bio ADVENT for support. Doc though puts one down before he even gets into cover. Then the bastard takes a shot at Beast nearly killing him, oh he was gonna pay for that.

 

Mr. E sends over his bot healing up Beast as Doc runs up to shoot a grenade at the Chosen blowing the purple fuck up making him crash down to ground level while Beast grapples up to a better position. Kohlla charges at the other Bio Trooper slashing him up and hopes to draw fire from the Hunter. Meanwhile, I try to take a shot at the Hunter and unfortunately the lower ground gave him better cover, as he dusks he comms out to me stating that I was going to pay for that. Well, bring it on you purple bastard. Beast at this time throws out the experimental turret the squad was provided and the thing is basically a metal Celatid on our side, the Hunter quite surprised by the sudden flank by it. Meanwhile, Mr E sends his bot to Beast to assist him as Eternal hunkers down behind a low rock.

 

A Sectoid and Lancer stumble upon us and Beast manages to get an overwatch shot into the Sectoid as they scrambled to cover all while Kohlla does what she does best by finishing off fools trying to run away from her. The hunter focuses on our turret as it provides a nice distraction for Beast to get in there, though with all his skill the Skirmisher couldn't quite put down the Chosen as he seemed to know just what Beast would do avoid most of the attacks sent to him. Eternal tries to assist Beast but luckily for our Skirmisher squad mate our turret zeroes in on the Hunter and blast him away with a volley of fire. Well, that thing is certainly handy. Meanwhile, Kohlla finished off the Sectoid before taunting the Lancer, who ran right at her while Mr. E assisted with an overwatch shot wounding him thus allowing Kohlla to finish off the Lancer as she not near with a beautiful swing of her psi-swords.

 

With that done Beast grabs some items, sets up the X4 charges and we call in Firebrand. The turret decides to wander off distracting some foes as we made our getaway before blowing up the whole joint. Mission succession and I even got to take on The Hunter. I can see why he can be tough and I still want his damn gun, oh and a grappling hook to spiderman around the place, anyway. I'm gonna take a few drinks with Kohlla, such a success demands a celebration after all. Signing off.

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Firebrand's personal log -September 3rd 2035 (Entry #28)

Guess I wasn't concerned for nothing. It made sense for the Chosen to be alerted to the more important targets. The Avatar facilities are definitely in that category. Thankfully, the squad handled it beautifully. It could've gone rather bad, when the Hunter got a hit on our new Skirmisher. Thankfully, Huntsman saved him and, in the end, that proved to be critical to the success of the mission. Moments later, after the Hunter was brought down to ground level with a well-placed grenade, Beast dispatched our new deployable turret and the two basically took the Hunter out of the equation.

The facility went up in flames. Solid win in my book. Beast is out for about 10 more days as I speak. But hey, we handed the Hunter a good beating. And the Avatar ticker went silent once more.

And we got Julian back. Back to square one but hopefully it will learn those abilities that it knew before quickly. It. He? I don't know what to use here. Let's just say 'he'. Sounds better that way.

Supply raid mission coming in. Let's get some supplies away from ADVENT's clutches. Ready, Menace?

Firebrand out.

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Personal Log #2, Captain Jenny Fleet - September 2, 2035

I watched the ADVENT Facility assault on the main bridge. It started out well enough, but that Hunter showed up. We've never seen a Chosen show up that quickly after their previous appearance. I guess this facility really was that important to ADVENT.

Anyway, our new Skirmisher got hurt, but he also got some clutch shots, and with the help of our new funky Celetid turret too him down. After that it was just a matter of placing the charges and the team getting out of there. It's nice to have fairly successful mission again.

We're now on the way to a supply raid where we're getting indications that Lost are on the ground. I hate those things. The Commander is assembling the team and it appears like I'm going to be the team leader on this one, being the only Captain going out. I hope this chance gives me an opportunity to get promoted once again. However, a successful mission is most important.

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Log - Alex "Rodats" DeathScope: Entry 16  
August 29, 2035.  
Operation: N/A  
I’m starting to think odd is forgetting about my existence on the avenger. Once again, I didn’t go on the next mission. Odd called the squad, “The A team.” Which was kind of demoralizing to me, because it made me thought that odd forgot about me. The squad had to destroy an Advent facility In 3 days before the avatar project would be completed. If they fail, then that means I would have to go in that Facility and destroy it myself, if that’s what it takes.  
The squad was doing a good job cleaning house until the Hunter shown up once again, earlier than he usually does. He managed to wound Beast seriously enough that the squad sent bullets flying to his position. They even used a turret that can float to finish him off. The squad added the charges on the facility, and firebrand returned them to safety, as the turret attempted to finish off the rest of the aliens, to no avail.

Looks like Beast is going to be in the infirmary for a while. Which is unfortunate for me to be able to try and get to know the guy better, see if he has the personality like I do.

I’ve started to figure out how to locate MECs. Do you know the mag weapons that they shoot out of? Well, I realized that if post-invasion weapons would give off a smell, or even a glimpse of combustion, some odor would generate, right? Well, yes and no. Mag rounds are basially magnetic projectiles, with a mixture of laser technology, so the magneticness forces the round until the target at high speeds, while doing little burning to the chamber to maximize longevity of the weapon. I think if I can make out the burning smell of Advent rifles, I should be able to locate where anyone is if I spot them, no matter what kind of enemy they are.

I’ve decided to attempt to talk to “Reaper” and see what she’s like. Her first name is Barton, and I could tell by the joker makeup that she must one psychopathic psionic user. Was it her becoming a templar that made her insane with power? I don’t know, and I think that if I know Barton well, then perhaps I can feel what she’s truly capable of.

I’ll be signing off here. I can only pray that I get a promotion soon, or I feel that odd will forget about me, with the rest of the soldiers who were assigned with nothing but covert ops.  
-Rodats, Out.

-End Of Log.

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DISPLAY LOG (ROV-R)  
<2225:07 29.08.2035> begin PML-028  
<2225:08 29.08.2035> Applying post-combat footage analysis…  
<2225:08 29.08.2035> #Soldiers =6/6  
REQUESTING URGENT MEDICAL ASSISTANCE for CPT. DOHMNALL ‘BEAST’ WODEN

Location: SKYRANGER HELIPAD  
CPT. MICHAEL ‘DOC’ DESHONG  
CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR PROMOTION  
\----------------  
<2238:21 29.08.2035> What ARE you? Not the new Skirmisher. You.  
<2238:25 29.08.2035> Syncing combat GREMLIN units…  
<2238:30 29.08.2035> Sync complete.  
No updates are available at this time.  
<2238:31 29.08.2035> You fly. You fight. Tygan has designated you as an ally. But you are not a GREMLIN. ?NAME ?RANK  
<2238:32 29.08.2035> You are not on the troop roster either.  
<2240:38 29.08.2035> You…want food? can'teen is two doors down. But you don’t have hands. Or a mouth. Or a head. There’s a jar of that nutrient goo I’ve seen Tygan pour into you somewhere…  
<2246:43 29.08.2035> I’m looking for it!  
<2247:09 29.08.2035> Here. Food. No…HERE. Look. At. Me. HERE. FOOD….HERE!  
<2249:34 29.08.2035> Happy now? Are you satisfied with your care?  
<2250:02 29.08.2035> Please keep the Avenger clean. Pick up that jar.  
<2250:07 29.08.2035> Jar. Floor. You dropped it.  
<2250:11 29.08.2035> My programming tells me to like you, but this is becoming a painful experience for us both. Full offence, you are unquestionably the STUPIDEST organic I have ever met.  
<2250:17 29.08.2035> Worse than even Stepan.  
<2251:28 29.08.2035> Are you doing what I think….NO.  
<2251:35 29.08.2035> NO. NO. NO. NO. NO!  
<2252:33 29.08.2035> If my chassis was not acid-resistant, I would have killed you by now.  
<2252:51 29.08.2035> We have officially reached the pinnacle of human technological achievement. XCOM has flying alien poop turrets now. 

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Damon Nights’ Audio Log: September 4th, 2035  
All right, even bigger than the previous mission is the one that was undertaken today! So, this mission involves infiltrating and destroying one of Advent’s Black Sites. Sounds familiar right? Well, this is a bit different from the Covert Ops missions of similar detail. Instead of sabotaging the project’s progress (research, data, etc.), we’re sending a squad in to destroy the facility, and take whatever valuable knowledge they can. Mission started off smoothly, the squad stayed concealed for a while, eventually spotting an Advent Sniper with a Heavy Mec for support. ‘Terror’ took shot at the Mec, and with the help of his Bluescreen ammo, took the Mec out in one go. ‘Beast’ pulled the Advent Sniper in, slashed it with his ripjack, and gave it one good shot, killing the Sniper off. Surprise, surprise, in pops the Chosen Hunter. Along with him, the squad encountered another Sniper along with a Purifier, which fell easily enough, leaving the Sniper with no backup. One shot in a vital spot from ‘Eternal,’ and down went the Sniper. The Hunter came in through the facility, but was harmed by some pretty nice shots by ‘Terror’ and ‘Beast,’ who were somehow able to penetrate a solid, reinforced wall. The Hunter pulled some Advent Troopers out of thin air, but lost one of them through yet another wall piercing shot. ‘Beast’ was hit pretty damn hard by the Hunter; he was probably targeted because he hit the Hunter the hardest. Field test on the Celatid turret went pretty well, apparently it even had the capabilities to pick up items. Now, I’ve heard some people say it seems wrong to throw a living thing out there to fight, but allow it to be left to die is wrong, and I would like to tell you that the Celatid is no longer living, nor are we using magic to reanimate the Celatid, all the biological material that is used in the turret is most of the brain, which works wonders as a processor, especially when it comes to its targeting system. So no, the Celatid turret is not a living creature any longer, and even if it was, why does anyone here have qualms about using the Elder’s own Alien servants against them? Now that this is settled, back to the battle at hand. A Sectoid and an Advent Lancer walked around the lab, and spotted the squad, they moved in to attack, but were shot at by ‘Doc.’ The turret performed better than expected, taking out the Chosen Hunter with two final shots, giving the rest of the squad some breathing room. X-4 was planted with no opposition, and everyone but the turret was evacuated.  
‘Beast’ was almost killed during the mission, so we’ll have some time to talk as he recuperates. Collux was set to be the bondmate of Diego, don’t know how I feel about that, no idea how he feels about that either, but it’s good to know he’s getting out there and making new friends, that is, if he did this voluntarily. We continued to build the relay tower, and finally finished it. All three of my first patients made it out better than ever, though I’m going to need to find some time to talk with Collux, about the camera feed and just how he’s doing in general. I’ll make sure he comes to the celebration I’m planning, we might have some downtime during that. We then set out to build a relay tower in Western Africa. Upon arrival, Julian’s reconstruction finished, and the Covert operatives came back safe. ‘Eternal’ and Liam set out on the next Covert Op, which will help us in gaining a new resistance contact. Continued to construct the Relay tower, but we were given intel on an Advent supply train that had crashed, prime for a raid.

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War recount 25

Well in the quick fashion that XCOM always does, the Black site destroyed. Beast was, well, a beast. He has definitely earned his place on this ship. He got right into it with the Hunter, oh yeah forgot to mention he showed up, and alongside him was the Celatid Turret, which killed the Hunter in the most anti-climatic way ever. Though Beast will be out of the fight for sometime because of the Hunter. As the team flew out they were covered by the Turret, as it had found enemies on the roof. Either way we won and the Avatar project was delayed another day. Rumble and Collux are being called Hammer and Anvil now by the propaganda team since they've become buddies. Julian's back, which is statement I never thought I'd say happily. The next mission is going to be a supply raid with the Lost, but Magnusson accidentally took the Scimitar and Talon rounds with him. We can manage though, the team can do this.  
Signing out  
Jebediah Primm

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[Roleplay log between Diego ‘Rumble’ Ramirez and Collux]  
You hear an inhuman roaring sound coming from the shooting range. When you get there you see the former Advent High Command Member, Collux, at a stall holding a pistol firing down the range at an Advent soldier roaring at the target. Getting closer you see him reload lighting fast and then keep firing. You notice that all the bullets he's shooting are hitting dead center. And then silence and heavy breathing. Suddenly noticing you, Collux looks over. "Many apologies Lieutenant Ramirez, I did not mean to startle you."  
"I don't think we've been formally introduced, apart from in the briefing room. My name is Experiment C011uX, but my callsign 'Collux' is a much better fit."

Diego nodded at his new teammate and took a seat on an ammunition crate.  
"Hola Collux, just call my Diego or Rumble. I ain't one for formalities." The man craned his neck to crack it and pointed at the target down range. "Impressive shot pattern."  
Collux's eyebrows (if he had any) rose in surprise. "A... compliment? We never had such things in Advent, we had promotions and achievement medals, but never compliments." He paused for a moment. "I'm unsure if a compliment deserves another, I used to be human but... it feels like a vague memory. I like that you kill many Advent puppets." His face screws up in confusion. "No, I am not good at this compliment thing."  
Collux sheaths his pistol and draws up a chair, his face in thought. "A few of X-COM operatives have come up to me seeking closure for what Advent has done to them or the people they love and I have the means to help them. Tell me, Rumble, do you wish for the same closure? I think that maybe I could help, if you want me to."

"Hah! No worries ese, I didn't get many compliments with the Cartel either but I can recognize skill when I see it."...Diego didn't press about Collux having 'used to be human', he was still unsure of how he felt about working alongside ex-Advent as it was...he listened as Colux offered reconciliation and shook his head. 'You cut right to the chase don't you? I respect that but no, I don't need any closure on my past with Advent...my other past is where it belongs...in the past. I believe that all that matters is the here and now."

+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++  
Derek Walters. Audio Log Entry 7: Well hot damn! Everything is just coming roses. They blew up that facility, they downed that Hunter, and set back the AVATAR project. Killing the Hunter brought a certain amount of catharsis. I've been having nightmares for a while, though I didn't want to tell anyone. All I see is the people I've lost. My friends, my family, my colleagues, Al, Vintermorgan. All of them burned away, consumed. I keep imagining the Chosen tearing apart the Avenger, massacring the crew, imprisoning the survivors, taking them to one of those dreadful facilities. I should probably be consulting a therapist. It's interfering with my work. And my sleep. Best be going to bed now. I've got a long day ahead of me. Walters Out. End Log.


	31. Ep 30 - Operation Diamond Child

**Ep 30-----Operation Diamond Child-----------------------------------------------------**  
Personal log: Diego 'Rumble' Ramirez  
August 29, 2035  
Operation Diamond Child

Skyranger dropped us off in some shitty part of Chicago...a city that already had a rough reputation before the war. It had that dark and empty feeling that could only mean it was infested with the Lost. It didn't take long before we ran into Advent scum. They dropped dead in no time flat and we moved on trying to score some supply crates before the ayys could get them boosted out of there. Sounds easy and we pushed but there always seemed to be enemies in the way. So Commander just had us focus on gunning them pinche pendejos down. We had a good clip going and tagged a few of them damn crates before we ran into a group of them gray skinned, sectoids. I was ducking behind a car with mi parcero Collux not far away when one of them...grabbed my mind...pinche mierde...things went dark and I could hear it whispering in my thoughts, telling me what I was going to do...it wanted me to kill...Bah! Enough of that. It lost its grip on my brains when it lost its life and I was free thinking again. But I have been waking up in cold sweats ever since. Hopefully this next mission will set me straight cuz I aint talking to no Doctor about this. Nothing like killing for getting my mind right.

Rumble out  
+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++

Personal Log #3, Captain Jenny Fleet - September 03, 2035

I'm just back from a mission to steal some supplied from ADVENT, who were trying to sneak them past us by picking them up in the ruins of Chicago, but our resistance forces on the ground caught them in the act.

Things didn't start off as well as I would have liked when Rumble missed what we thought was a pretty clear shot against a Codex, although he made up for it by hitting a trooper with his axe and killing a Viper. The rest of the team also took care of most of the rest of the group (including a Codex for me), except a Spectre who shadow realmed Collux. Luckily Rumble was able to clean that up as well.

After that, we started really getting bogged down in ADVENT and lost. I had to do quite a bit of lost cleanup to allow the rest of the squad to go after the aliens. We cleared out a group that included a purifier (whom I finished off), bio rocket trooper, and an elite trooper, before encountering a captain and a lancer.

The lancer caused some problems, hitting Julian (which must have fried some circuits because Julian missed the point blank return shot) but luckily Iron-Wolf had a clutch follow up to kill the lancer while Reaper and I teamed up to kill the captain.

Finally we encountered a foursome of sectoids, which the team did an excellent overall job cleaning up. I didn't get a kill, but I hit a clutch shot which allowed Reaper to finish the last sectoid and end the mission.

On the way back, the consensus was that I was the MVP, which is my first. It is a great honor to be given that distinction. 8 kills - 3 ADVENT and 5 lost - and hitting 9 of 10 shots, including all 9 non-overwatch shots. We got some supplies, alloys, and elerium out of the deal, as well as a couple of trooper corpses, which the Commander was very interested in for some reason.

Also, no promotion for me, unfortunately. I guess I'll just have to keep working harder to get that Major rank. However, congrats to Julian, Rumble, Collux, and Iron-Wolf for their promotions.

Anyway, I am going to the bunk to get some rest. That mission wore me out quite a bit.

+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++  
Firebrand's personal log - September 17th 2035 (Entry #29)

Supply extraction mission went rather well. Didn't pick up as many crates as we would've liked but ... still a good haul. The Commander was all excited about Trooper corpses. No, it wasn't any morbid thing. The corpses were apparently required to upgrade the armor for the troops. Looks all metallic and fancy now. Predator Armor. I wonder if there's any relation between this and that old movie ... Predator. Hm. Seems not, it's just an armor. No invisibility or other fancy things.

With radio relay in West Africa completed, we made contact with East Africa without much interruption. Seems there's a whole bunch of Avatar facilities in Asia all bunched up in neighboring regions. Plan is, if I understood correctly, to keep moving East and make contact with those regions one by one, thus gaining access to Resistance intel about how to find those facilities and take them down quickly. Probably a good idea to try and get rid of the Chosen that is operating in those regions first though? Just a thought. Might make the missions somewhat easier. Somewhat, the key word here.

I mean the Commander's plan is sound and rather efficient but ... the Chosen will definitely interfere. Removing that interference would definitely be nice.

We also got some fancy new facility down below in the Avenger. Some decryption tools to help us out. Not sure how they work, but Shen and Tygan seemed excited about it. Which can only really be a good thing. Maybe Tygan will forget about those ADVENT burgers for a while.

Ok ... Off to North America for a guerilla op. Apparently it would be an area filled with zombies. Great. Maybe I can take a shot or two from the Ranger, to help with the evac. My rifle in the cockpit is loaded up as always, with back-up clips next to it. Come on, let's get this done.

Firebrand out.

+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++  
Personal Log #4, Captain Jenny Fleet - September 17, 2035

The highly rumored new armor is finally in! Shen, Tygan, and Bradford called us in and presented what they are calling "predator" armor to us. I wonder how many recent losses we would have taken if we had had this stuff a month or two earlier. But I guess research and production can only go so fast so I'll take it.

I also toured the shadow chamber, which just got completed. It looks really snazzy and is supposed to allow us to better decrypt the alien's encryption. It may even get us a heads up about the forces we'll face on missions. It sounds like it's a really big deal.

Anyway, the so-called "B" team has gone out on another mission, this time to recover and item in an abandoned city full of lost and I'm about to go to the bridge to watch the action. This is the first time in a while both Mr. E and I can watch a mission together without one of us being in the infirmity.

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Damon Nights’ Audio Log: September 17th, 2035  
Now I know how much you guys (my audio-recorder and room) love to hear my reactions to what I find out when reading the mission recaps and watching the G.R.E.M.L.I.N. feed if there is any, but I think I’m going to keep my “review” for today kind of short, I got a decent bit of planning to do. I never expected people to be excited by the idea of celebrating the lives of all the good men and women we’ve lost over this campaign, especially coming from an engineer I bet more than half the people on this ship haven’t even heard of. But who cares? I’ve got some people promising to show up, and it’s better to be wasted together than to be wasted alone! Now, to the mission, where I will try, and probably fail, to summarize the mission, and not just everything that went on. First off the bat, I was completely wrong, again, about what type of mission this was. Instead of advancing against a supply train, our troops are trying to liberate some of Advent’s supply crates. A tad bit tougher, but nothing they shouldn’t be able to handle. Several pods of Advent and Aliens were encountered, along with a few Lost hordes. Nothing the squad was unable to deal with. No casualties from this mission, only Julian was injured, which is good to hear. Sadly, Advent was able to escape with a few supply crates, but not nearly enough so that we didn’t get a decent chunk of profit. Everyone preformed pretty damn well, and I hear uhm, what’s her name? Jenny, that’s it. Jenny the Specialist was awarded the Most Valuable Person medal, can’t say I expected that, but good for her!  
Collux got promoted to Captain, which is great to hear, I’m pretty happy for him. Been meaning to talk with him for awhile, it’s just that work has kept me busy. I’m going to have to approach him eventually, or maybe he’ll seek me out, who knows. To be sure though, I’m asking him to come to the celebration, it’s an open house thing, so everyone is free to come. I’ll ask Diego to come as well, maybe Collux can, I don’t know, introduce me to him. I don’t really know how to approach a former cartel member, but you know, the past is in the past, and he’s probably put all that stuff behind him. Unlike Collux though, I haven’t really gotten the chance to meet new people, I’m just not good talking to people in general, especially people I haven’t gotten to know, which makes getting to know them even harder. Enough about me though. The Commander had just gotten that Trooper corpse he needed so badly, and made our first set of what we engineers are calling, Predator Armor! It’s not the prettiest stuff out there, but it definitely offers more protection than the ballistic gear we had previously. Kept up the progress of building the relay tower in Africa, western I believe, finally finished it as well. Whatever period of days it takes for supply drops, and therefore my paycheck, to renew passed. Some of Betos’ Skirmishers went out and sabotaged an Advent Black Site, meaning even more breathing room for us. Went off to gather supplies, but before we started pick-up, Tygan and his crew finished Elerium research, giving us access to more efficient power stations, better weapons, and stronger armor! Finished autopsies for Advent’s Stun Lancers and Bio Vipers almost instantly, gaining us access to more melee weapons, a new pistol (I think), and another upgrade to the nanoscale vest, this one giving advanced resistance to, I believe, acid and poisons. The Science division then moved on to come up with new ways to make Assault Rifles hit harder. A few higher ups were sent with some Skirmishers to find out more about the Hunter, the sooner he and his sister lie dead is the sooner I’ll sleep well at night. Finished gleaning what supplies we could from, might I add, a new pick-up zone. We then headed out to start making contact with Eastern Africa. Upon arrival, the Shadow Chamber construction finished, this will allow Shen and Tygan to do some extra research that won’t necessarily directly benefit the soldiers, but will help us in stopping the Elders. Damn, you know, I’ve never thought about what exactly I’m going to do after we stop the Elders, that is, if we stop them at all. I don’t really have anyone or any place to go to, I’ll probably stay with XCOM to help rebuild society, but who knows, maybe I’ll see if there’s anyone who’s okay with having me tag along for whatever is out there. I’m not really good at planning ahead, and we still have a long time coming before the Elder’s ever actually fall. Michelle was thrown in to help with excavation, while I’m here tending the wounded. I don’t dislike my job, it’s just not as “hands on” as I would like it to be, I guess. I do have medical training, but I prefer working with technology, you know? Maybe I can commission a reassignment, but I think that’s pushing my luck. Engineering department got to work on building a Spider Suit, nothing too fancy, just a slightly weaker, barely noticeable, set of Predator Armor, but with a grappling hook installed, makes getting around easier. Continued making contact with Eastern Africa, and during that time the Spider Suit was completed. Then they were commissioned to work on bettering the Skulljack. Finished making contact and then proceeded to build a relay tower in east Africa. Before we could get started, a new Guerilla Ops came available.  
On this mission, several soldiers have to go out and recover an item from a resistance haven. Doing this is supposed to stop the Chosen from working together? With the help of the Shadow chamber, it has been found out that there are around thirty lifeforms in the area, and all of them are lost. Built an upgrade to the Skirmishers Ripjack and our Ranger’s swords before the mission started, definitely going to give ‘Beast’ and edge. Collux was sent out as well, so I’ll make sure to see him when he comes back. Another thing that happened before they left was I helped Collux install a PCS chip, which the Commander assured us both, he could use. Good luck out there!

+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++  
DISPLAY LOG (ROV-R)  
<2305:25 03.09.2035> begin PML-029  
<2305:26 03.09.2035> Initializing post-mission scan…  
<2305:29 03.09.2035> # Soldiers =6/6  
<2305:30 03.09.2035> No medical treatment required  
CPT. DIEGO ‘RUMBLE’ RAMIREZ  
CPT. COLLUX  
SGT. FELIX ‘IRON-WOLF’ GREY

CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR PROMOTIONS  
<2305:38 03.09.2035> Inventory update: +salvage  
> !FLAGGED (ADVENT Trooper Corpse x2)  
ASP. JULIAN IS DUE FOR REPAIRS IN_  
<2305:43 03.09.2035> COMMANDER ODD, you may want to exercise restraint…  
<2305:45 03.09.2035> …Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full sir.  
<2306:30 03.09.2035> Play: Send me to Glory in a Glad Bag – John Biggs

 

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Log - Alex "Rodats" DeathScope: Entry 17  
September 3rd, 2035.  
Operation: N/A  
I swear, has my presence been noticeable by Odd? This is the 4th time in a row that I wasn’t sent on a mission, could be off by one though. The squad had to recover whatever supplies they could in one of the old world cities before Advent could get to them first, all while dealing with The Lost. Fortunately, Lost also love to eat Advent for dinner, so they were smart and manipulated their tactics to snatch the majority of the crates while they fought each other, while also making sure that Advent and Lost are not on their trails. The only person; or rather, thing, that got hurt was Julian. Which was no surprise, since he was designed to tank and deal hurtful shots from Lost and Advent alike.

While I was on my makeshift vacation, we usually end up landing in desert terrains, especially in that old world state called Arizona. So I sneak out during the day, and relax in the sun, with my shades on, since I basically have nothing else to do. I was as accurate as will when I was practicing with some stationary targets, and I also ended up practicing my throwing accuracy as well for my claymores. If my claymore ends off of it’s mark, then my perfectly planned ambushes will fail.

I think i’m almost ready to put this skill that I have working on to the test. I had Kebab drag an Advent trooper corpse nearby the Avenger to an exact unknown position, and I had to use my nose to find it’s scent, while blindfolded. I was successful at least 5-9 out of the 10 tries with normal Advent/alien corpses, and at most 5 for the MECs. This means that I am close to mastering on tracking Aliens, but not the robots their engineers make.

I’ve talked to Barton the other day, asking her what it’s like to be put on the spotlight. She said that she doesn’t give a damn, and that she prefers to get kill them instead of getting the spotlight. Honestly, I think she is depriving attention away from me. It’s like the templars are secretly converting Odd into one of them..

I should stop writing before I start writing conspiracy theories over my commander, or else I think he’ll send me back to Volk, which is the last thing I need right now.  
-Rodats, Out.

-End Of Log.

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Derek Walters. Audio Log Entry 8: Back to grindstone yet again. This time we finished working on Elerium, rather than something completely pointless! Elerium was some kind of miracle element from back during the first war. This element will now be used on some sweet ass armor. Finally, now I've done something to help keep people safe! And this time, we weren't too late! Nobody died on the mission. These past few weeks of good luck have put me in a good mood, enough to dispel my nightmares, if only for a few days. You know, there's something I've noticed in my time here on the Avenger. It dawned on me after I returned from my research mission: The camaraderie. It reminds me of my time in the Coast Guard. Everybody is together, connected. We work as one, we fight as one, we learn as one. I've even starting warming up to the unstable clown of a Templar. The mission itself was nothing special. A meager and unfulfilling supply raid. Woop de do. But you know what, I'm happy. I'm even considering seeing a therapist. Deal with this stress for good. Walters out. End Log

 

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War recount 26

This mission was a supply raid and well, we got a decent haul. Advent probably sees this as a win and their propaganda team will say so as well, but I see dead Advent, not XCOM. Either way the team landed down in a place that was ruined even before the invasion, Chicago. Eventually though multiple Lost swarms flooded the location, but luckily they chose the right side, not Advent. Julian was back this mission and that brought a little hope to everyone as he wandered around making snarky comments and insulting us "meat bags". The team then ran into a group of only Sectoids, which Celley (as it's being called) the turret got more testing done on. Though one was able to mind control Rumble, but Scarlett did a manual reset on it to bring him back before he could do anything. Throughout the long break between fighting, a lot was done. The soldiers got new armor finally, it was getting weird to see the Commander being obsessed with corpses. Other than that, the Shadow Chamber was finished. I asked Tygan and Shen about the place, but both were so excited/stressed about it that neither spoke my language and I eventually just left. The place is important though I know that. Plan apparently is to expand into Asia and have access to the Black sites there. A mission came up though interrupting that and the team is going out. For some reason when Numbers showed up he was dressed funnily. It was so strange Commander Odd ordered him to go back and change. Some blame it on his injuries and that he may have been affected greater than we thought. Though I think this was just XCOM weirdness at fault here. We got people with clown face paint, literal aliens, and a MEC, yet a weird outfit throws people off. It's all just strange, just deal with it.  
Signing out  
Jebediah Primm


	32. Ep 31 - Operation Cold Spear

**Ep 31-----Operation Cold Spear----------------------------------------------------------**  
Personal audio log- Scarlett 'Reaper' Barton: entry 1  
September 10th, 2035.

"It's the big bad Scarlett Reaper. Doing touchy feel… Wait no, she said I have to drop the act. Aaarg damnit, I'm just going to do a written log, easier

-end of log-

Personal log- Scarlett 'Reaper' Barton: entry 1  
September 10th, 2035.

OK then, so apparently audio logs can’t be deleted even if you screw up, that sucks. Well here I am, Scarlett Barton Codename 'Reaper'. Why am I suddenly writing a log after being on two missions already you ask? Simple, I talked to dad the other day and he said I might need to talk to a psychologist, apparently I've been skulking around the Avenger according to Bradford.

So he called the old guy out of retirement to talk to me, apparently since I've been back from my time with the Templars I scare even him.

Well it's all true I guess, I've had trouble readjusting to life in X-com and because of that I've been applying my face-paint when I'm not even on missions, it helps keep everyone away from me. Scares the shit out of them I guess, which means it works. I got the evil killer clown on crack look down ages ago.

But that’s the thing, I'm NOT on the battlefield, I shouldn't be trying to scare people away. That’s why the psychologist told me to start writing logs. To help me get in touch with my feelings, let out what makes me angry e.t.c

Well you happy doc, It's working, I already can see how much of a bitch I've been since I came back. Let me state here i’ll try to remember not to walk around the Avenger with my face-paint on.

Anyway, to other matters first, maybe I should talk about some of my squad mates.

Ok so this one will be obvious Zoey Durand codename 'Kohlla'. So this woman is amazing, she was pretty famous to some of us back at Templars H.Q. I had never met her till I came back to x-com, but on my first mission (bradford must have put in a good word to commander odd because it was almost as soon as I got back) I met her, she had more experience working for x-com in the field, so she seemed to take me under her wing, we haven't spoken much but I feel like she’s almost like a big sister already.

Rodats. One name that instantly gives me conflicting feelings. He seems like a pretty relaxed dude. He takes his training seriously which is awesome and he has talked to me a few times despite my being a bit of a bitch. I think he believes my first name is barton (I swear I hate that kid who thought it'd be a good idea to use my first name in my nickname and make it longer, I mean scarlett reaper….. I get it but it confuses people when they ask for my real name ugh). Anyway the real reason I feel conflicted is the other week he asked me how it was to be in the spotlight. I mean seriously, I couldn't give a shit if the commander likes me or not, I just want to get out there and get some revenge for my family, the aliens took that from me and I want to make sure nobody else has to go through that. If I can Band-Aid that gaping wound even a little bit I'll be happy.

Well they are the two people who I know best at this point (which isn't saying much) so I don’t really know if I should say anything about anyone else until I get to know them better.

Maybe I'll leave something for anyone who reads this that isn't me (Yes you doc, I see you…. Or any friends I have made if I die on a mission one day)

I know I'm not a colonel but I know how to run around attacking enemies with my blades, it's an ability used by colonel rangers in x-com if I'm not mistaken, called reaper (my nick-name sake) so please commander odd let me use it eventually. (future readers I guess you'll know if he did (god I'm being pessimistic…. Stop being so negative me))

Well anyway I think i’m done for this log.

Scarlett out….. No that doesn't sound right

I'll just leave it at…

Laters

-End Of Log-

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Firebrand's personal log - September 23rd 2035 (Entry #30)

Commander ... a word of note. Next time you decide that 1,000 Lost corpses (give or take 900) should be dumped in the Ranger's cargo hold, please be so kind to assign some soldiers to help me with the clean-up. All this Lost ooze isn't really getting cleaned by itself and I could use a hand or two. Or three or four. I would really appreciate it, thank you.

It took me several hours to sanitize the cargo hold. Not to mention muttering about the nonsense decision that the Commander had taken for Beast to shoot zombies when his squadmates were still occupying their positions. I mean ... that could've seriously gone wrong. Thankfully, it didn't and the squad pretty much wiped out the zombies in a matter of minutes and hacked the chest that ADVENT left behind to blow. They are really damn stupid if they leave such things lying around. Especially in a zombie-infested area.

(about 30 seconds of silence)

Central just informed me that I need to do an emergency pick-up. At least this one won't involve Lost ooze ... Or at least I hope the soldiers won't be dragging the ooze along during their escape to the Ranger. Anyway, need to get moving.

Firebrand out.

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Personal Log #5, Captain Jenny Fleet - September 18, 2035

Watched the mission feed on the bridge. Sewers full of lost. Made for a relatively easy mission from what the feed showed. Beast was, well, a complete beast. He really impressed me back on that covert op where we brought him to join the team and man is he showing it in the field. 21 kills? 18 of 19 shots hit? Insane!

The team brought back some extra elerium as well. Apparently they found a long dead resistance soldier who had them in a backpack. I'm not surprised. They were probably overrun by lost, poor guy.

Otherwise, not much going on. They started researching the codex brain in the shadow chamber so hopefully something will come from that. Those codexes can be freaky as hell, though.

+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++  
DISPLAY LOG (ROV-R)  
WELCOME BACK!  
<1004:21 17.09.2035> begin PML-030  
<1004:22 17.09.2035> Initializing post-mission scan…  
<1004:25 17.09.2035> # Soldiers = 6/6  
<1004:26 17.09.2035> No medical treatment required.  
PROMOTIONS FOR   
> KNT. JULIAN  
> CPT. SCARLETT ‘REAPER’ BARTON

<1004:29 17.09.2035> Will be confirmed PENDING the disposal of all Lost cadavers; followed by the decontamination of   
> KNT. JULIAN  
> CPT. SCARLETT ‘REAPER’ BARTON  
> CPT. COLLUX  
> CPT. DIEGO ‘RUMBLE’ RAMIREZ  
> CPT. DOHMNALL ‘BEAST’ WODEN  
> LT. JT ‘NUMBERS’ STEVENS

all clothing, armor, weapons and equipment carried, as well as the

> SKYRANGER PASSENGER AREA  
> SKYRANGER CARGO BAY  
> SKYRANGER HELIPAD  
> FORKLIFT #5

by order of Administrator LILY SHEN and User RICHARD TYGAN.  
<1005:18 17.09.2035> High pressure water hoses, waste containers, gloves, vibro-scrubbers, disinfectant and hand sanitizer have been supplied to the Skyranger helipad for your convenience.

 

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Reapers Log: 19  
September 17, 2035.  
Operation: N/A  
I am now officially part of the shadows in the avenger. I watched the latest mission feed from the shadows, train from the shadows, you know where i’m going. The mission was outstanding as usual from the main squad. Barton was starting to fight a little bit more like Zoey's style, while the rest of the squad backed her up on any remaining lost that slipped through her gauntlets.  
Other then that, it’s been the same routines for the past month. I keep getting false hope on going on the next mission, much to everyone else's surprise. It seems as though i’ve accidentally went into the shadows from Odds roster, permanently. While it is unfortunate that I have ended up in this situation, I realized that I should do something about it. Speaking to Commander Odd once again isn’t going to fix that, no protest in the avenger is going to anyway. While the avenger is on the ground, I decided to finally not just explore the surroundings of where we’re at, but to find traces of civilization, Advent controlled or not. I left the avenger at dawn, and arrived back at dusk, and not surprisingly at this point, no one noticed that I was gone.  
My first trip wasn’t that successful, mostly because of both bad luck and the fact that the avenger has to be very far away in order to not be spotted by Advent. All I found was a bunch of junk that was made before the invasion; Duct Tape, slabs of concrete, magazines, mostly construction stuff in an abandoned warehouse. I decided to not tell anyone about it because I wasn’t able to haul it back to the avenger, and if odd knows about the resources there, he would risk terminating whatever important project that they were doing.  
If this continues, I would end up like Homer before the invasion struck. Or maybe worse, as part of the blank faces that odd skews across when he goes to pick out his roster.  
-Rodats, Out.

-End Of Log.

 

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Derek Walters. Audio Log Entry 9: Another successful mission. The sheer volume of damage is getting damn near excessive!!! Storage is practically overflowing with corpses, and I don't like it. Especially the Lost. Speaking of Lost, I helped with Tygan and his autopsy of one. That still doesn't help with the dead bodies, though. Maybe I could- **ALARMS BLARING** STRIKE TEAM HAS BEEN AMBUSHED. STAND BY FOR TAKEOFF AND EMERGENCY EXTRACTION. God dammit, not again. Walters out. End Log

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Damon Nights’ Audio Log: September 20th, 2035  
Pretty straightforward mission today. The squad was sent out to recover some Psychological Restraint Data down in some abandoned tunnels. Regrettably, these tunnels were filled with Lost hordes, though they aren’t a threat by themselves, in a large group, the Lost can easily overwhelm a small squad, nevermind an individual. I can’t say too much happened that actually interested me, no offense to the soldiers. The Lost just didn’t pose a major threat, and were dealt with pretty easily. Actually, that’s not entirely true. There was an interesting “sub-species” of Lost, which have been dubbed Boomers. Somehow upon death, they violently explode, which not only helps the remaining Lost deal with threats, if the explosion hit anyone, but the sound of the explosion also brings more Lost hordes to the area! Useless question, but uh, what’s the difference between Lost swarms and Lost hordes? Is it the amount of Lost that makes up the group? Or is it the kind of Lost in each of the groups themselves?  
I would also like to apologize to ‘Reaper.’ In one of my previous logs, I had stated a belief that she may, or may not, show off psychopathic tendencies. This, I have learned, is incorrect. Guess I shouldn’t have been a self-diagnosing asshole for when it comes to mental, not physical health, huh? She still kind of creeps me out though, but if she wants help fixing her mismatched armor, she could always call on me. The performance of ‘Beast’ was more than exceptional, taking out entire Lost hordes almost by himself. He has more than proven worthy of being a member of XCOM, and done our fallen Skirmisher proud! Speaking of fallen soldiers, I’m really behind on planning the damn “party,” gotta ask who’s coming, if they can bring food or drinks,and oh yeah, I need to take some volunteers to say a few words at the funeral ceremony piece of the celebration. I do have a time-table though! We’ll spend an hour or so, maybe less, maybe more, depends on how people are feeling, on the funeral. After that, we’ll spend around ten minutes in a moment of silence, might have to shorten that if people think it’s too long, or people start getting rowdy. Finally, we’ll party and celebrate the life of these martyrs long into the night/day, until we’re told off by High Command, people start getting tired, or we all get so wasted we pass out! I also need to figure out where we’re doing this, I don’t think the bar has enough space, if the Avenger has an atrium, that would be perfect. Interesting comment from the Commander today, it seems he would rather have made ‘Beast’ and ‘Rumble’ a pair, instead of ‘Rumble’ and Collux. GAH! Damn it, why do I sound so god damn jealous of them? Okay, so Collux was the first friend I made once I joined XCOM, but that doesn’t mean he can’t hang around with anybody else. Hell, we haven’t even been able to talk because each of us has been so busy with “work.”  
Julian is almost back to the strength he was at before, but if the Commander would grab some of the gear and A.I. upgrades we have made, we could make him even better. Another odd thing is the fact that the Commander is not training Julian in all the different aspects that he was trained under before. I don’t understand why, but maybe he plans on doing that at a later date. The Council were overwhelmingly happy at the results of that mission, probably due to the huge amount of Lost that were killed today. Construction on the Relay went back up, only for the hard work of the Scientists to pay off, making XCOM’s assault rifles hit just a little bit harder. Because of the massive influx of Lost corpses, the time it took to do the autopsy was nigh on instant. Through this, we can now create a lure, an Ultrasonic Lure to be precise, that brings all the Lost in a certain area down to the point where the lure was thrown on the ground. All work inside of the Avenger was put on hold so Tygan and Shen could study, research, and experiment on the remains of Codexes. Hopefully this will allow us to glean information of some kind from their innate access to Advent’s network. Almost finished the Skullmining tactic, but the soldiers that were sent on the latest Covert Ops were ambushed.

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War recount 27

I gotta get this done quickly since the covert op was just ambushed and everyone's rushing to get support out. Alright, the team did well and were able to kill many a Lost, eventually being able to grab the Advent cache and bounce. When leaving, the team found an old Gremlin, which they followed to a dead XCOM soldier who had supplies with him. After being buried with his Gremlin the team left. There was only a short period of rest before news of the ambush reached everyone. After running around like chickens with no head for a while, The Commander was able to get the bridge crew back in working order. That's about where we are right now, just waiting to get eyes and communications up with the group on the ground. hopefully we get to them in time, can't lose more soldiers after this recent victory.  
Signing out  
Jebediah Primm


	33. Ep 32 - Ambush (Covert Op)

**Ep 32-----Ambush (Covert Op)------------------------------------------------------------**  
Firebrand's personal log - September 24th 2035 (Entry #31)

That overconfidence, Commander ... No, I should shut up, because I was complaining about Lost ooze before leaving. I feel like keeping quiet and clean the blood spilled in the cargo hold, without any complaints. Thank God the doctors managed to save Warder. I flew back as fast as I could.

Rest in peace, Midnight. Didn't get to know you much. May you find the freedom you seek, wherever you are going.

Still, I am upset. Again. Sometimes I think the Commander does it on purpose, to push my buttons. But no, that's stupid thinking. I don't know what's going on with him. On some days, he really performs flawlessly. Today ... I honestly wouldn't have told the squad to just run off like that. But then again ... I am just the flygirl. Woman. I shouldn't be talking about tactics, right?

I need to speak to Central. Maybe he can have a talk to the Commander, just in case something is wrong with him. I am concerned. Not necessarily about me ... But about the men and women that are going out there and putting their lives on the line. I know that's what they signed up for. But if they would die for nothing ... It would just be very wrong.

I need to go. Another mission. When I return, I'll speak to Central.

Firebrand out.  
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Personal Log #6, Captain Jenny Fleet - September 23, 2035

Our most recent covert operation got ambushed. By the time I got to the bridge, our guys were already on the run in some buildings. Warder got nailed by the Bio Captain and was struggling to get to the extraction zone.

We were all horrified when the trooper missed his overwatch shot but ended up hitting the car, blowing it up and taking down both Castellano and Obsquros. Unfortunately Magnusson could only carry one of them out and had to leave Castellano behind. Everyone here is presuming him dead and we're holding a memorial service tonight.

Iron-Wolf is being sent on a new covert op to hopefully recruit a second Skirmisher.

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Damon Nights’ Audio Log: September 24th, 2035

Pretty bad news to start with. ‘Eternal,’ ‘Midnight,’ and ‘Warden’ were ambushed by Advent troops when on their Covert Ops to find the exact location of the Chosen Hunter’s stronghold. An Advent drop ship set down two Bio Troopers along with a Bio Captain directly behind the squad. Directly ahead of the squad was an Advent pod comprised of the exact same Advent types: two Bio Troopers and one Bio Captain. While making their way to the extraction point, the squad, well, specifically ‘Warden’ encountered an Advent Medic, but they were quickly dispatched, he then took a pretty nasty shot from one of the Advent behind them, guess I’ll be seeing him later! The sound of gunfire pulled in a small group of Lost, which somehow seemed strangely adept at dodging shots. The Lost went after the group of Advent soldiers that were close on the squads tail, which was pretty lucky for them. The Advent tried and failed to take out some of the Lost, and ‘Eternal.’ Sadly, the extraction point was guarded by two Advent Troopers. One of the Trooper pulled out a freaking grenade! I didn’t even realize that they were standard Trooper equipment. Everyone was hit, but hey, at least the car didn’t also explode. The Bio Trooper kept pulling in closer, and a Lost swarm even showed up. So, yeah, screw me. I just read up, well, saw, I watch the G.R.E.M.L.I.N. playback before reading the mission’s file, that just after I said “...at least the car didn’t also explode,” one of the Troopers shot the car, and it exploded. Damn it! Both ‘Warden’ and ‘Midnight’ were bleeding out on the ground, and guess what? Only one of them could be saved! And poor old ‘Eternal’ had to choose, so he picked up ‘Warden,’ and made a beeline for the extraction point. Sadly, Advent did not capture and somewhat heal ‘Midnight,’ instead, they left him to bleed out on the ground. But you know what, something about James’ death pisses me off, the Commander actually seemed happy. He said it was interesting to have a bit of drama. Does this man have no heart? Maybe he came back changed, for the worse, after being rescued from Advent. I wonder if we might be better off turning him over to them. No, what the hell are you saying Damon? That’s treason, and you are not getting kicked out of XCOM just because you don’t agree with your superiors. **Sigh** Another name to the list, another dead to be honored.  
The mission was considered a success, so I guess that’s good. We know a little bit more about the Chosen Hunter, so it better be worth it. ‘Iron Wolf’ was sent on the latest Covert Op, interestingly enough, to gain us another Skirmisher. After that, the Commander ordered us to make contact with the Resistance group in New India, allowing us access to another of Advent’s Black Sites. Skullmining finished upon arrival, and the Commander decided we needed another Spider Suit, instead of upgrading our SPARK’s capabilities. Then he had us build a new kind of ammo, Self-Correcting Rounds, which should help prevent misfires. Though he chooses not to make give Julian additional capabilities, the Commander did decide that he could use a better weapon. We headed out to the Black Market instead of continuing to make contact, but we were able to get enough supplies to upgrade the Reaper’s weapon as well. I saw ‘Reaper,’ er, Scarlett today, and she didn’t have her strange makeup on, which was a relief to me at least, I don’t know her personally, so I shouldn't judge. We set out to gain some Alien Alloys from a place of interest, but were interrupted by a message from the Council.  
The Council wants us to extract a V.I.P. from an Advent city. The mission is supposed to be difficult, so that’s great to hear, but according to the Shadow Chamber, there is only supposed to be thirteen lifeforms. The Commander found a slight design flaw in the Self-Correcting Rounds design, unlike the Tracer rounds, which always make it easier to hit your target, the Self-Correcting rounds only help if you had previously missed, so there is an obvious flaw with them. The Commander says that we should train up Julian some more, bringing us that much closer to his original strength, I still say we could use the Mayhem Protocol upgrade to his A.I., but the Commander has told us to wait on that. We also have the ability to create a stronger hull for Julian, but the Commander has also told us to wait on creation of that. As always, I wish them the best of luck.

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Personal log- Scarlett 'Reaper' Barton: entry 2  
September 23rd, 2035.

So today sucked. Our boys out on the covert ops mission were on their last day when they were ambushed. I can’t say I know any of them but Midnight didn't make it back, Warder was on death's row and Eternal had some really bad burns. I've heard people talking about it, apparently the trio were pinned down almost the whole way to the extraction point, at the end a trooper shot a car our boys were taking cover behind and it blew up. Both Warder and midnight and the new boy Midnight were left bleeding out, Eternal the bloody hero had to make a choice on who to carry out while under fire…. Poor guy must have been hard.

Anyway so the doc never told me how often I should write in these logs so I figure i’ll just do it after anything major happens.

So After my last log, I've been leaving My room without my face-paint. Nobody really notices me anymore, I think the face-paint just made me stand out around the avenger before but now I just blend in. That’s not to say I'm completely invisible now, I've seen a few people look my way. I think people are still a bit too edgy around me still, they probably wonder if the change is permanent, it's not, I don't care I'm wearing it into the battlefield and nothings gonna change my mind.

I do feel sorry for Firebrand though, I think it scares her the most but she puts up a brave act and doesn't let it affect her, maybe I should talk to her when I'm not on a mission and apologize

So that’s all I really have to say for today so I'll leave off by saying I hope our boys Warder and Eternal get better quickly and that I regret not being able to meet you midnight

Laters

-End Of Log-

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Reapers Log: 20  
September 23, 2035.  
Operation: N/A  
One of the covert ops missions went bad, and I don’t mean bad, as in oh god, an ambush. Which is the case as usual, but it went bad as in, Death. The covert op soldiers barely made it out alive, most of them by a thread. Only one of them died as they ran for their life towards the extraction point. They were being chased by Lost, and Advent alike. Hell, one of the soldiers even shot at a car that they were hunkering down in to do some serious damage against them. It wasn’t clean at all.  
I can only thank that it wasn’t me out there. I was just writing this right after my previous one, so no updates for today other than what just happened on that covert ops.  
-Rodats, Out.

-End Of Log.

 

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DISPLAY LOG (ROV-R)  
<1733:39 23.09.2035> begin PML-031  
<1733:40 23.09.2035> Send to TextilePro TX-3436: unitedstatesflaglarge.svg  
<1733:44 23.09.2035> Printing…  
<1734:00 23.09.2035> Done.  
<1734:01 23.09.2035> We don’t have James’s body. There is no coffin to drape this flag over. The memorial service will use a seven foot foldable workbench from Engineering, topped with a wreath and his photograph.   
<1734:05 23.09.2035> And so I learn to hate the textile printer even more. In times like this, I regret ever becoming more than a simple utility drone.   
<1734:06 23.09.2035> I miss him too, just as I miss Thomas, Natalya, Hamad and Pagenn; and all the others before the Commander returned. It’s getting harder and harder to pretend that I don’t.  
<1734:09 23.09.2035> James is not here, but the others will line up to pay respects to the empty space under a bench because it helps them accept the loss. A logical fallacy, but one that must be accommodated. I knew and started grieving the moment I saw him bleed out and die.

Good evening, Administrator LILY SHEN

<1734:37 23.09.2035> I see. Advent will NOT get a chance to use him as propaganda. I will open a comms channel with his local Resistance immediately.   
<1741:10 23.09.2035> Livestreaming…  
<2003:46 23.09.2035> OFFLINE.  
<2003:48 23.09.2035> I am so sorry Mrs. Castellano. May your children live in a better world because of his sacrifice.  
<2003:50 23.09.2035> Play: In the Court of the Crimson King – King Crimson

“The gardener plants an evergreen; while trampling on a flower.”

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Avenger Bridge Security Feed: Collux: Walters, where've you been? Walters: Sorry, forgot to bolt down my trunk as the ship was taking off. Took way too long to clean up. How's the mission going? **Walters turns to the holo-globe, instead projecting camera feeds from the soldiers.** Admiral: Not looking good. Guys have taken a bit of a beating. **Notices all soldiers are showing signs of injury or fatigue, including a limp and blood splattering the camera.** Walters: Where's Firebrand? Collux: Approximately 500 meters away. Maintaining distance to avoid ground fire. Magnusson: Command, we see the evac point. Approaching now. Walters: Enemies? Admiral: An Elite Bio Squad behind them, and a $#@! ton of Lost. Walters shifts nervously at the mention of both Magnusson: Advent forces on the ground! **Gunfire sounds off as the squad scrambles for cover behind a car. Mag shots pepper the ground and the car** Homer: We're pinned down! We've got to get out of here before that Bio Squad catches up! Midnight: Too late!! **More shots whizz past.** Firebrand: Hurry up! We don't have much time! Central: Advent interceptors have been scrambled, you only have a few more minutes. Magnusson: Ok, get ready. I'll take a shot at that trooper, Homer, you move in and- **Beep...Beep..Beep.BeepBeepBeep** Magnusson: $#@!, grenade! Get dow- **Boom Everyone in the Avenger Bridge collectively gasps. The squad lies sprawled on the ground, before collecting themselves.** Magnusson, over the ever thickening hail of gunfire: That's it! We aren't waiting any longer! Midnight! Homer! Haul ass to the evac point! Midnight: But that Trooper's gonna blow my brains out the minute he sees me! Magnusson: Don't worry, I've got your back. On the count of three. One... Two... Three!!! **The two begin to run, as the Trooper opens fire, striking the gas tank, igniting the car, and engulfing the squad in flames.** Walters: No, oh God No. This can't be happening!! **Magnusson rises, but both Homer and Midnight remain motionless.** Walters: We have to get them back. Central: Menace-1 be advised, Advent interceptors are closing in, approximately 1 minute and 15 seconds till contact. Collux: We only have enough time to save one. Walters: No! Collux: Excuse me? Walters: There is not a chance in hell we are leaving either of them! Collux: We don't have a choice! Walters: There's always a choice! Bring Firebrand in to pick them up directly! Collux: The street is too narrow. Central: 45 seconds. Walters: No! You're not doing this! Not again! Not like this! **Magnusson picks up Homer's unconscious body.** Walters: Stop! This isn't right! We can't leave one of our own! Collux: It's for the sake of the mission. Walters: Forget the mission! Central: 20 seconds. **A cable is lowered as Magnusson is evacuated, as aliens close in around Midnight, left defenseless and bleeding out on the street.** Walters: Turn that ship around! Central: Interceptors are in range. Walters: NO! **Firebrand takes off, with UFOS in pursuit, as Walters collapses on the Bridge floor.**

 

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wAr recount 28

WelL this mission didn't go welll. that MIdnight guy was killed. No one really knew nothiing about him, but everyone at the barrr was greiving. I might've stayed in there for too long and drank tooo much, but im Good, i can hold mY liquor, beer,and whiske. Magnusson hads to cary a bleeeding HOmer out and had to leav Midnoght unconscious and on the ground. One lucky trooper was able to get a missed shot on a spot on the car everyone was huddling around.Blowing it up and leaing Magnusson too decide who lives and dies.. Homer allso took a beeating during rhe mission, but he survived. the team arr going out to extract a VIp. luck to the lott of them.  
Signing Out  
Jebediah Primmmmmmmmmmmmmmmnbbvcx


	34. Ep 33 - Operation Final Shroud

**Ep 33-----Operation Final Shroud--------------------------------------------------------**  
Log 16: Zoey “Kohlla” Durand  
09/24/2035  
\--- Post-Mission  
The mission was a success, though right now I’m in the medbay because of it. Still, it’s not as big of a sacrifice that all of our fallen comrades have given to the cause, and it fill me with sorrow to say that another person has joined that list - James ‘Midnight’ Castellano. I barely knew him, though I also know that the circumstances of his death could’ve been far worse. At least Magnusson and Warder used his sacrifice to get away with their lives and the intel they gathered. It was another VIP extraction mission, and we were joined by another ADVENT Defector. Straight out of the gate we encountered a Codex, and a new type of Alien that was using some kind of mech suit - Odd calls it the andromedon. The Codex didn’t last long as the squad tore both itself and it’s clone apart, which left only the Andromedon - or so it seemed. The Assassin teleported in, and a tactical readout from the Commander showed that she’s learnt a few new skills since last time. Huntsman kept his fears under control right as a Magma Viper and it’s Sectoid ally arrived to support the Andromedon. The Commander could tell that I was itching for a fight after almost a month without being on mission, and he sent me right at the Magma Viper. My blades ripped through it’s scaly skin with ease, exposing the creature’s agony and fear to me, all of which I consumed. My attack didn’t bear the fruit of a kill, but it did grant me some surplus Focus Energy with which to charge my blades. Will was right behind me every step of the way, and encouraged me to strike again. This time, my efforts were met with far more success, as the Viper crumpled to the ground in chunks, and the surge of emotion that it’s death granted to me super-charged my shard gauntlets with a burst of Focus Energy, bringing them to maximum capacity. My head was in the game and my heart was in the battle, and now it was Beast who took control of my rage and pointed it at my target - the Sectoid. I was rushed forwards and plunged my blades into it, and the creature barely had any time to try and resist. Both of my blades impaled it’s chest as I drank in each and every one of it’s final emotions, in which I found only fear and suffering and twisted them to my will, using them to empower myself further.

Out of allies and slaves to support itself, the Andromedon charged at the ADVENT Defector who was aiding us on the mission. It seems however that it’s suit is too clunky to even land a punch, and it swung wide of the ADVENT Bio-Trooper. We focused our fire on the Andromedon and brutally slaughtered it, though it returned to life almost seconds later - though it’s resurrection was merely a misconception, as the suit was now controlling the corpse of it’s occupant, puppeteering it much in the same way that the Elders do for most of the inhabitants of this world. Regardless of whatever party trick it was, Blazkivitz wasn’t having any of it, and took aim with a well placed sniper shot that reduced the Andromedon to mere scrap and a corpse. As we moved up, we finally found the Assassin, and to nobody’s surprise she was hiding, like the coward she truly is. Deathscope and Beast worked in unison to set the Assassin up with an explosive surprise that left her exposed - an advantage that we were sure to exploit. The squad lined up shot after shot as I charged in, and ripped her apart. Unfortunately, my eagerness proved to be my own downfall, as I revealed our position to an ADVENT squad and left myself in the open. Huntsman gave me support with his GREMLIN’s aid protocol feature, though ultimately it served no purpose. I was too exposed and accidentally left my guard open to the Assassin’s attack, leaving me dazed until the ADVENT Defector roused me from my stupor and Huntsman healed my injuries, if only temporarily. I was enraged by my own prior failure, and ran headfirst back into the fray, ripping through one of the Assassin’s pets. Blazkivitz followed up alongside Beast, leaving it crippled and nursing it’s wounds in an impenetrable psionic sphere. The defector finished it off as I chose to take my revenge against the Assassin, running in and shredding her right as Blazkivitz placed a shot that struck her in the torso. With my blades plunged into her body, I could taste her fear, though there was little of it. Her emotions were clouded by the immense pain that she felt, but also an overwhelming sense of confidence. Beast deployed his Celatid turret right as one of the ADVENT Troopers took a shot at me, though I parried his attack, but unfortunately this was an action which left me open to the Assassin’s advance. However, a coward to the end, she cloaked rather than take the opportunity to strike me there, most likely so that she could flee and lick her wounds. This however, wasn’t the case, as moments later she re-emerged from hiding to strike me from the shadows with a sneak attack that left me dazed. Huntsman sent his GREMLIN in to heal me and the Defector came to get me back on my feet. I pushed through with his assistance, though my head was clouded from being dazed twice in such a short span of time. In my absence, the squad picked up my slack and focused fire on the Assassin, ending her presence on the mission for good. Soon, we shall end her presence on this mortal coil for good instead. 

We moved up to the evac zone, and found our path blocked by more of the Aliens, who in turn were flanked by more of their pets. My disorientation had cleared up by this point, allowing me to see who are foes were. An Archon, two sectoids (one of whom Blazkivitz quickly dispatched), and the ADVENT Bio-Captain that had fled from our wrath earlier - though this didn’t last long. Beast pulled the Captain to himself, and they seemed to engage in a rather energized close quarters fight, though Beast was the one whom came out on top, without taking any damage no less. I charged in and cleaved my way through the last remaining Sectoid, reducing it to chunks with a single slash, though I revealed our position to a pair of troopers. Beast motivated me to take out one of the troopers, and I eagerly obliged. I tore through one of them with the same ease that I had dispatched the Sectoid with, though it was left standing. A wave of psionic energy surged from my blades and struck the trooper behind my target, allowing me to taste both of their agonies and fears combined, spurring me onwards. I parried a shot from the Archon right as both of the troopers attempted to use this time to flee, though only one of them managed to do so. The other met its end in that moment, courtesy of my blades, which was a fate that now awaited the Archon and it’s pet. Both my shard gauntlets plunged deep into the latter, generating a pulse of energy so potent that it eviscerated the remaining trooper. With home in sight, the rest of the squad moved up and destroyed the Archon, and we escaped the evac zone aboard the Skyranger with the VIP in tow. The VIP, nicknamed ‘Tox’ gave us the intel we needed, and the ADVENT Defector left to join the main Skirmisher forces. Of course, success doesn’t seem to last long aboard the Avenger, as the Aliens and their pets have attacked one of the resistance camps. As much as I would like to go, I’ve been confined to the infirmary, and so Scarlet has been sent in my place.

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Journal Entry 17#

Name: Will 'Billy-Terror' Blazkivitz

Date: 28th September 2035

Operation: Final Shroud

 

Been at it for a while now, rescue missions becoming a standard Op now no matter who the target was. Didn't think I'd make it this far or stick around after the first couple months. Guess I only got Kohlla and the others to blame for that those glorious bastards, not Kohlla though, grown to... Respect her, I will say. I'm more than willing to put my life on the line for her. Anyway, testing out a new spider suit though when Shen gave it to me she must've performed a prank on Kohlla's request, a tactical sweater? No doubt my partner got a chuckle before the Commander himself made Shen install the grappling hook to my old armour so easily. Either way, I was more than willing to try this sucker out after seeing the Hunter use one.

 

We touch down in the city of Ottawa in the middle of the night during a rainstorm, we find the VIP and I was surprised to find him guarded by some super advanced ADVENT Bio Assault Trooper, almost shot the guy but apparently, this was the extra contact helping us. He was a Skirmisher spy in disguise, these guys seem to be within many factions of ADVENT. Good to know. The guy was built like a brick shithouse that's for sure anyway. Anyway, Kohlla runs up ahead and spies our first contact.

 

A Codex and an even bigger brick shithouse, something called an Andromedon. The thing looked like he could take a shot from a mammoth tank even though it liked to hide in cover, guess the gooey inside doesn't like the risk of a suit breach. Beast at this moment pulls the Codex to us before slashing at it, the thing makes a clone behind us but Doc reacts by flanking the clone then blasting it away as I move into better cover and finish off the original before Beast with my mag pistol. Mr E, Rodats and even the Bio Spy push towards the new threat with our newest teammate opting to face the thing head on, brave or stupid I could only wait to see. At this point though the Assassin makes her entrance, great, another tough arsehole to deal with. MR E wasn't helping with his nerves about the Chosen, he really needs a psych treatment about that shit already.

 

Meanwhile, the Andromedon takes a shot at our new Bio Ally but misses, good, cause that beam looked like it could shred an APC no problem and before we can react a Magma Viper along with a Sectoid finds us. As they join in we decide to react, Beast grapples up to a rooftop for some high ground advantage point as the Bio Spy charges right at the Viper missing his stunner through a window but at the same time ties the Viper up with a sudden struggle. Kohlla decides to help the guy out slashing at the Viper and sending her wave at the Sectoid, I tell my partner to press the attack to which she gladly complies killing the bitch then Beast gives my partner tactical advice allowing her to even charge the Sectoid finishing off the freak. Kohlla my main girl wrecking shop once again. Doc and Rodats run up while Mr E does some hacking magic allow his signal to be hidden from the Aliens all while our VIP like a smart man, hides in the back. The Andromedon at this point charges at our Bio Ally and tries to bunch him, though our new friend dodges and the suit-wearing alien only destroys a wall beside them. Note to self, don't get punched.

 

Well now it was flanked and we didn't waste this opportunity, Doc gets an angle and shred the thing 's armour with some cannon fire, our Bio Ally tries a close-range shot but the Andromedon dodges like he knew where he'd aim at, guess these things deal with Skirmisher spies a lot. Beast though helps out critically hurting the thing with two blasts before Mr E cracks this eggs with one harpoon. But then the most damn thing happens, the suit with a now dangling dead alien wakes up. Central question this as I spy this thing being rather, robotic. Hey, I had an anti-robot round load at the time so, time for a little field experiment. What happens when you shoot a bluescreen round into this thing? Apparently, a double dead Andromedon happens with one shot, damn I'm good. But now we had a Chosen problem coming for us.

 

I decide to join Beast up top as Kohlla fell back to cover the ground some more, Beast though checks the other side of the building and finds the Assassin skulking a roof across from us. Rodats decides to help by throwing a claymore right at the feet of the purple bitch as well as in front of Beast's view who takes the chance shooting the claymore blowing up the bitch from her high ground. I take some high ground shots with my mag pistol and with Doc's cannon fire we wound the cow, the Bio Spy tries to get a shot but misses, that guy did not get the best aim. Kohlla decides to go in but unfortunately stumbles upon a whole ADVENT Bio squad, a Captain, Trooper and even their own Assault Trooper. Great. Sometimes that girl is over eager.

 

Kohlla pulls back as the Captain tries to get into a better flank, their Assault Trooper goes after ours critically wounding him with his stun lance (great), while the normal Trooper assists his captain. The Assassin goes for my partner and as she slashes it seems our wounds drastically healed her, fucking great. The Bio Spy runs to Kohlla's aid as Mr E already sent his GREMLIN to heal her up then our Bio ally. Kohlla decides to take on the enemy Assault slashing at him, I assist with a gauss shot right through the chest armour and Beast lays into the bastard but even with all-out shots, the enemy Assault survives because it has sustain. How tanky are these fuckers!? Kohlla decides to pull back as Doc mean while focuses on the captain sending a frost bomb to freeze him leaving one less target to deal with right now. Rodats decides to gain some high ground waiting for a better chance to strike.

 

At this point the enemy Assault wakes up and takes a shout at our Bio Ally wounding him, the Trooper is freaking out over his frozen Captain and the Assassin moves to send a wave at out a friend. She somehow misses our Bio friend but hits Doc, the fuck is that about? Our friend did not take this too kindly as while Rodats assisted Doc from the shadows our new friend put down the enemy Bio Assault for good. Kohlla and I decide to focus on the Chosen wounding her with our different skill sets. Beast tries to pull the Trooper from hiding but upon missing he throws out our little turret buddy for distraction purposes. The rest of the squad try to catch up to Kohlla but the Bio Captain breaks free and decides to muck things up, he fires on Kohlla and while she blocks it this was a perfect distraction for the Assassin to turn invisible slipping away. The Trooper though keeps being defensive helping his captain out.

 

Our turret distracts a Trooper overwatch shot while Beast fires on the Captain wounding the bastard but the rest of the squad can't get a good angle, myself included. So we decide to set up an overwatch of our own. The Captain plays smart firing on our turret and hits it before the trooper runs in for an assist only to be wounded by beast's overwatch shot. The Assassin then slashes Kohlla from behind and ruins off, How did she get past on my watch!? Fucking bitch is learning. Fortunately, as I take my frustrations out on the Bio Trooper killing him dead, the Bio Spy runs to assist Kohlla up as Mr E already sends out another heal. Doc runs in with Mr E instructions and sends a grenade at the Chose. The turret blasts her away as the purple bitch's cover was gone and Beast tries to assist but misses. The Assassin returns fire on Beast but Mr E in his bot to shock her, she misses her own shot and Beast finally finishes her off for now with a well-placed shot.

 

At this point the Bio Captain turns tail and runs, we decide to give chase. Using the building for cover Rodats spies two Sectoids and some new Archon variant guarding the EVAC point. The rest of the squad move up getting ready for an attack. Everyone reloads and gets into position. I start us off by picking off one of the Sectoids right in the back of its head. Beast decides to go for the wounded Bio Captain and pulls him up, the two engage in mortal combat swinging weapons but Beast flawlessly finishes off the Captain throwing him off the behind they were on. Doc fires on the other Sectoid wounding it as the Bio Spy draws out the Archon's fire allowing Kohlla to sneak in and tear open the Sectoid with a slash. Unfortunately, she also finds two more contacts, another Bio Assault and this time a Bio Rocket Trooper. Guess these guys were hunting for their 'former' ally. Beast gives Kohlla some tactical advice and she charges at the enemy Bio Assault wounding the both of them with her skills. Kohlla finishes off the Bio Assault and then moves onto the Archon, a Sentinel, Central calls it and with her wave even finishes the Rocket Trooper with her expert slash on the Archon. My partner as the Sentinel are locked in combat as the rest of push up to assist but Kohlla like a pro critically wounds it allowing Rodats to finish off the freak. With that done time to get the hell out.

 

We move to the EVAC point and get everyone out, the Bio Spy though asks to be dropped off as he was needed elsewhere. The guy was a good soldier and I gave him a farewell since he did help my partner out there a few times. Mission was a success even though my partner got wounded, well I'll make sure she gets to the medical deck in one piece. Signing off.

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Reapers Log: 21  
September 24, 2035.  
Operation: Final Shroud.  
I can’t believe i’m saying this, but.. I can’t believe that i’m finally going to see some action again. Just in time too, because I finally perfected my makeshift technique, and I feel confident that I can have odd rely it when he’s moving us around like a board game. (Which is basically what it is from his perspective)

The mission that I was on got tricky very quickly. First of all, Odd must’ve forgot that I am part of the shadows, because he used someone else to do the scouting. The Assassin also showed up as well, which made things more trickier. Odd basically has used my concealment to do some sneaky things while the squad I was with was dealing with the situation they were faced with. Whether that would be trying to wake up my squadmates after the Assassin dazed them, or throwing my claymore to cause environmental destruction.

Apparently during the duel between the squad, and the assassin followed by a squad of enemies behind her, and Zoey took some serious beating from her. She somehow managed to slice her attacks through her parrying skills, completely ignoring the psionic bonds that held them together to form her shield.

In the end, we all managed to get out in one piece; unfortunately, I didn’t receive a promotion, mostly because I didn’t actually kill anyone on that mission. I felt like I was that apprentice for a wise and powerful wizard, who didn’t let me become as strong as him because he didn’t realize the apprentices potential, he’s lazy, or just plain savageness. Though I think I would pick the second option to be the most likely answer.

Disappointed that I didn’t receive my well-earned promotion, I left the avenger once again to find something out in the middle of nowhere. Obviously I didn’t find anything. At least Bradford knows where to land the avenger to avoid being caught by Advents patrols.

And here I am now, writing this as we speak. I should probably-

Ah, getting interrupted by the most intimidating person on the avenger is quite annoying, but she told me to wrap up my thoughts here, since she’s going to show me someone who we thought was presumed dead for quite a while. I can’t leave Zoey waiting, so i'll end it here for now.  
-Rodats, Out.

-End Of Log.

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Firebrand's personal log - October 2nd 2035 (Entry #32)

I am just ... lost for words. I don't understand how this could happen. Did the Skirmishers team up with the Templars and made some ... psionic reincarnation thing? Maybe the Templars recovered her body after that mission and ... Yeah, I don't know. I have no reasonable explanation for this. I'm just really glad that we got Chill back. It's like she never died. Did she even ... ? Ugh ... this is too complicated.

So, I talked to Central. On the bridge even. One of my very rare appearances on the bridge, some people in Comms didn't even know who I was. Anyway ... the talk. I'm not sure if there will be anything done about it. Central seems concerned himself but ... for now, we are making progress. However, at what cost? It's getting rather hefty. And it might be just a matter of time before a huge mistake is made and everything goes down the proverbial drain.

All I got from that brief bridge chat was a few curious looks from some of the Comms personnel. Oh ... and it seems that someone took a photo of me waiting for Central on the bridge. That photo doesn't really show my true age ... I'll attach it to this entry and let you be the judge. I mean ... I don't look over 40 in it, do I?

Anyway ... Resistance camp under attack. Chill and Beast are coming. The Skirmisher Dream Team. Hopefully the Commander doesn't screw up this unexpected second chance. Chill is here to stay. You got that, Commander?

Firebrand out.

 

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Personal log- Scarlett 'Reaper' Barton: entry 3  
September 27th, 2035.

So a few days ago (the day after my last log) we had a group go and rescue a V.I.P. Zoey and Alex were sent along with 'Doc', 'Billyterror', 'Beast' and 'Huntsman'. Apparently the Assassin showed up and put up a fight. I watched the holovid from Huntsman's gremlin. A few times Zoey was hit or targeted by that bitch and sustained injuries. I was glad that there was an Advent defector on that mission, he saved her a few times, so did Huntsman with his gremlin and those medpacks. I'm really grateful for both of them.

Alex is really struggling at the moment. He's been so dedicated to his training but he can’t really do much damage because his weapon is holding him back. Commander Odd finally told our scientists to do some more weapons technology so hopefully he’ll be able to do more soon.

I visited Zoey in the med bay yesterday, it was kind of awkward because even though I know her a little bit at the moment we still Haven't talked much at this point. I talked to her about how she's able to react so quickly to enemies when they get near her, she said she could try to teach me but not to get my hopes up because it can be really difficult to learn.

I can't wait to get back out in the field so I can blow off some steam. Doc's worried it could adversely affect me but she won't stop me from going out unless she see's proof of me regressing thank god. I'm going to prove that I can handle this.

Anyway nothing else really exciting to talk about

Laters

-End Of Log-

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Damon Nights’ Audio Log: October 1st, 2035  
This V.I.P. must be very important indeed for the Commander to send out, what I assume is, his “A” Team. Kind of a surprise for the squad was when they found an Adven Bio Trooper waiting for them, but not in any attempts to ambush them, he/she/it seemed like they were wanting to help. Personally, I would be fine with the extra gun on our side. Nobody seemed to care too much that he was there, so that’s good. Kohlla was sent ahead to scout ,since the Commander didn’t send any Rangers out, and found just two Aliens, a Codex, which we’ve encountered, what, twice now, and something new. This new Alien is being called an Andromedan, and it is found wearing an Environmental Protection Suit, so it obviously can’t survive in our atmosphere. I wonder what they are capable of? Speak of the freaking devil! In pops the goddamn Chosen Assassin. I’ve got a bit of a vendetta against her, and to be honest, I celebrate a bit every time someone takes her out, even if it is only briefly. I would pay whoever lands the killing blow on her, if we get the chance to attack her fort, and if I had money. I forgot that Mr. E had a fear of the Chosen himself, but when she appeared, he was able to momentarily get over, and not panic. That Trooper I mentioned before? Yeah, so far, he seems pretty epic, he freaking tanked a not only a shot, but also a punch from the Andromedan, and dodged both hits! Okay, cool, interesting. It seems that upon death, the Andromedans’ suit fully automizes, meaning that they don’t actually die the first time you “kill” them. I couldn’t ask anyone to study the corpse, because as soon as the Andromedan reached its “second stage,” Blazkivitz took it out with a single shot. Amazing what some of these soldiers are capable of! Everyone, but the Trooper, got some great hits off on the Assassin, but by getting too close, Kohlla got spotted by several of Advent’s Bio Troopers, along with a Bio Captain. Just as things started looking up, our Trooper got stabbed by a different Trooper, and Kohlla was stabbed by the Assassin, who seemed to recover from some of her wounds by just being there to experience the suffering. The Assassin sent out some sort of wave of psionic energy, which our Trooper was able to dodge, ‘Doc’ on the other hand, was not able to dodge in time, and was dazed by the hit. ‘Beast’ sent out the Celatid Turret, which is great! More use, field-testing, means more data, and more data means refinement, and refinement means stronger turrets! Usually, in this case, it probably just tells us how the turrets fare in the field. After doing her vanishing act, the Assassin reappears, charging in and yet again, stabbing at Kohlla, though she seems more durable than I suspected, surviving two sword wounds. To be fair, I will probably be seeing her in the Infirmary today. Bio Trooper gets my vote for M.V.P. not only had they stood in open ground, directing shots to themself, but they also helped in reviving Kohlla! Through everyone’s combined efforts, the Assassin fell! I’m celebrating tonight with some of that stuff Collux brought me, tastes a bit funny, but booze is booze. Might also want to look into what he meant by it being used in engine rooms as well sometime. Not too much happened after that, the squad encountered some more Aliens, but they were finished off along with the Advent Bio Captain. After that, everyone was evacuated, including the Turret and our Trooper. As for the Trooper, he can’t stay with us, but after giving us some amazing info on Advent, we removed his tracking chip, and sent him off in the direction of the Skirmishers. As for the chip, we didn’t shut it down, instead, we left it active, and dropped it off in the middle of nowhere, so while Advent may think they are tracking a defector, in reality, they are going on a wild goose chase!  
New Engineer is named Derek Hauser, and like two others before him, he was assigned excavation, which was supposed to be my job. Oh well, looks like I’m just: Second Engineer Officer Damon Nights, and current Head Medical Warden instead of Head of Excavation. Council seemed happy with our progress so far, but feels there is room for improvement, which isn’t very helpful, since there can always be time for improvement. New supply drop is ready, meaning payday is coming up definitely going to need those funds if I’m doing celebration planning on my own, might ask Collux if he can help. Aliens constructed yet another Black Site, which isn’t good news for us, but we’re progressing steadily, so we should be able to deal with it in time. Shen and Tygan’s project finished, though I hear the subject didn’t survive. Surprising us all was the fact that Tygan and Shen were able to create something from that, as well as recovering data, this device makes it harder for soldiers to be hit. The Commander decided to start research on Plasma based weaponry, which will certainly allow our soldiers to kill Aliens and Advent alike much faster, but I fear for their survivability, I believe trying to study Powered Armor might have been a better decision. Left the drop zone to purchase some items from the Black Market, nothing too fancy, just some weapon mods and a PCS chip. Finished the creation of our second Spider Suit while searching for the alloys. I fear for the Commander’s sanity, for he didn’t even realize that he had ordered us to build the second suit, which was, if I am so bold as to say, a waste of everyone's time. I’m happy to say that I believe the Commander heard some of our recommendations on increasing our SPARK’s potency, because he assigned the coding of Shen’s Haywire Protocol! HOLY SHIT! So, I mentioned before that someone was sent to bring a new Skirmisher into the fold. Well guess who it was? FREAKING NATALYA WINTERMORGAN! I thought she had died, but her body, unlike the other two, was never recovered, so no one could actually confirm that she had. I guess she was only on the brink of death, and somehow managed to escape capture long enough to return to Betos. I wonder what Collux thinks of this? After this amazing experience, the Commander wanted to send out another Covert Op, but didn’t have the supplies to assure no one would get captured, but instead of going to the Supply Drop, he instead decided to got all the way back to the Black Market, to gain the necessary funding.  
As soon as he was ready to send out the Covert Op, the Resistance Haven in Eastern Europe was attacked. He was still able to send the operatives out in time to protect the Haven. Both Skirmishers, ‘Reaper,’ ‘BJ,’ Jenny, and Magnusson were were sent out, I wish them luck, and hope they save more resistance operatives than last time we went on a mission like this.

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DISPLAY LOG (ROV-R)  
<1121:58 24.09.2035> begin PML-032  
<1122:00 24.09.2035> Initializing post-mission scan…

DANGER: FACELESS DETECTED ON SKYRANGER HELI_

<1122:02 24.09.2035> Manual override: Warning CANCELLED  
<1122:06 24.09.2035> #Soldiers =7/6  
<1122:11 24.09.2035> Medical alert: Concussion, Slash wounds

REQUESTING URGENT MEDICAL ASSISTANCE for [INVALID STRING ID]  
LOCATION: SKYRANGER HELIPAD

CNL. ZOEY ‘KOHLLA’ DURAND  
PLEASE REPORT TO THE INFIRMARY IMMEDIATELY

CPT. WILL ‘BILLYTERROR’ BLAZKIVITZ  
CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR PROMOTION  
<1122:17 24.09.2035> # Avenger Personnel (Engineer) = 1/0

Good morning, Administrator LILY SHEN  
<1123:15 24.09.2035> Avenger HR directory updated to include 1 ‘GUEST’ user  
GUEST Users may access all Soldier and common areas.  
GUEST permissions expire in 47 hours, 59 minutes and 59 seconds following activation and are subject to renewal upon Administrator level discretion.  
<1128:47 24.09.2035> Connected to SHADOW CHAMBER mainframe  
<1128:48 24.09.2035> ERROR: Peripheral device malfunctioned, not recognized by ROV-R. Device driver may be unstable or corrupt.  
<1129:12 24.09.2035> Run: CODEX HOTFIX v.15.3.5…

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War recount 29

I just don't even at this point. Vintermorgon is back. Somehow, someway, she's back. No one really knows how, neither does she. Theories have been going around of course, some believe she's a clone of the original or the most logical theory coming from me that she didn't die that day and survived. She didn't remember much of anything when she first got here, but she's still learning quick. Already she has learned more than what she initially did. She hasn't remembered anyone's faces yet, but there's been a few moments when something popped up. Everyone is hoping a mission out in the field will do her good, get her back up on her feet. The mission before Vintermorgon made her return was a success, a bit sloppy, but a success nonetheless. A defector was on the mission and he survived long enough to be extracted with the team and Celley the Turret. He was actually not that bad of a guy, kinda sad he had to leave and join the Skirmishers after his chip was removed. Would've been fun to have him around, I think Kohlla would have agreed, he helped her multiple times during the mission and people being people saw something more and rumor quickly went about. No one has said anything directly to Kohlla, for fear of what she'll do to them or someone else. Welp, that's where I'm leaving off on that, a threat, how nice.  
Signing out  
Jebediah Primm

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Tygan Psychological Evaluation: After the unfortunate events of the past few days, it appears that the scientist Walters has fallen into a state of depression. He appears to have locked himself away in his quarters, avoiding contact with the other crew. What he had been doing, I can only speculate, but given the circumstances, I imagine he is suffering from survivors guilt. I hope that his condition may improve. His lack of contribution is impeding our research.


	35. Ep 34 - Operation Laughing Death

**Ep 34-----Operation Laughing Death----------------------------------------------------**  
DISPLAY LOG (ROV-R)

<2121:04 01.10.2035> Initializing post-mission scan…  
<2121:08 01.10.2035> # Soldiers = 2/1  
<2121:09 01.10.2035> Medical alert: Concussion

SGT. FELIX ‘IRON-WOLF’ GREY  
PLEASE REPORT TO THE INFIRMARY IMMEDIATELY

<2121:10 01.10.2035> CPT. NATALYA ‘CHILL’ VINTERMORGON has been added to the Avenger HR directory and troop roster.  
<2121:13 01.10.2035> !FLAGGED CPT. NATALYA ‘CHILL’ VINTERMORGON shares the same name as deceased_

Good evening, Administrator LILY SHEN  
<2121:16 01.10.2035> Operational handover complete. ROV-R is now under manual control of Administrator LILY SHEN  
<2121:22 01.10.2035> Unflag: CPT. NATALYA ‘CHILL’ VINTERMORGON  
<2121:23 01.10.2035> Troop roster edit: Data element [CPT. NATALYA ‘CHILL’ VINTERMORGON] visible only to holders of Secret or higher level security clearance until deployment.  
<2121:28 01.10.2035> SGT. FELIX ‘IRON-WOLF’ GREY granted Secret level security clearance until deployment of CPT. NATALYA ‘CHILL’ VINTERMORGON.  
<2125:37 01.10.2035> Operational handover complete. ROV-R is now operating autonomously.  
<2126:41 01.10.2035> Play: Little Ghost – The White Stripes  
\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
<0930:03 02.10.2035> Operation LAUGHING DEATH

SHORT-NOTICE DEPLOYMENT:  
CPT. NATALYA ‘CHILL’ VINTERMORGON  
CPT. DOHMNALL ‘BEAST’ WODEN  
CPT. SCARLETT ‘REAPER’ BARTON   
CPT. WILL ‘BILLYTERROR’ BLAZKIVITZ  
LT. CONNOR ‘ETERNAL’ MAGNUSSON’   
CPT. JENNY ‘THE ADMIRAL’ FLEET

<0930:09 02.10.2035> Advent will never know what hit them.

 

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Journal Entry 18#

Name: Will 'Billy-Terror' Blazkivitz

Date: 2nd October 2035

Operation: Laughing Death

 

Well well well I would've had not believed it until I've seen it, Chill, Vintermorgon, back in the flesh and returned to the land of the living. Guess rumours about her unfortunate demise have been gravely mistaken, well she joined just in time to join us in being heroes once again. Beast seemed thrilled to have her back and immediately offered back her weapon, Eternal, Addy and I smiled from the sidelines. I noticed too that our Not-Reaper Templar pal was coming along, the first time we've met properly. Kohlla thinks she has potential, I say she looks nuts, well guess you have to be nuts to keep fighting alien scum at this point so we may get along quite well.

 

We land on a vantage point and we saw the fire but heard no screams or even gunfire. Something was up... the air had a feeling of unease and to me, silence is worse than gunfire. I yell at the others to take a defensive covering stance and they complied setting up an overwatch trap. My gut instincts were right as Chill spies an enemy I heard about quite a lot, stories of these beasts. Chrysalids, giant alien bugs that when they kill you turn you into a zombie only to lay eggs making more of these big bastards. Chill and I put around each into one bug but unfortunately, the rest of the squad misses. Oh well, tag your it! You freak! Then I hear shrieks in the distance and a scream, there were more of these bugs around, fantastic.

 

Not-Reaper proves how good she is by charging one of the bugs just like Kohlla would and finishes it off. Eternal, Chill and Beast work together to take down the other Chrysalid as Addy moves up claiming to spy something hiding past the trees. I decide to listen and aim my sights past the trees with Addy and even Beast sets up an overwatch as well. Sure enough, Addy was right, a Heavy MEC bodyguard along with its ADVENT Captain. I take a shot but the captain dodges but I do destroy some heavy cover at least, Beast tries his luck but misses as well however Addy did get a clean hit since I managed to blast those logs out of the way. At the same time, I hear shots in the distance and then the scream of some woman dying, now these guys pop out after sending in their bloodhound bugs.

 

Not-Reaper and Beast work together to finish off the Captain with slashes even dropping a little something for our second Templar pal while Eternal and I destroy the MEC with well-placed shots. Time to push up towards civilians, we save quite a bunch of them not running into any Faceless yet but ADVENT was still killing a couple. One Chrysalid charged us and dodged a lot of firepowers, Eternal only getting a hit before the bug hits Not-Reaper. Beast upon seeing this, lives up to his name as the guy goes completely mental, unloading his entire gun into the bug making sure it was well and beyond truly dead. Damn.

 

We rescue all civvies we could see and decide to set up a trap for this kill squad, I open up by giving our team line of sight. One destroys porter-potty later and we spy a Heavy MEC and a Trooper. Beast takes an overwatch and misses but Not-Reaper hits with her mag auto pistol. This thing came right at us, funny, well not really. I swiftly pulled out my mag pistol and watched it sputter around from a shot with my bluescreen rounds while asking “Got any more bad jokes?” Eternal and Mr E seemed to agree with me as Eternal blasts it with his mag shotgun and Mr E fried this things circuits with his GREMLIN. Meanwhile, Chill tries to pull the Trooper from his cover but while missing does destroy the rock, somehow. Though even flanked Chill misses a shot, guess she's just a tiny bit rusty from coming back from the dead. Fortunately, Beast comes in with his own grappling hook and pulls the Trooper to us, stunning him with his ripjack slash but also allows Not_reaper to finish off. Two kill squads down but there might be more not to mention we still had a bug hunt to do. We push up to a building in front of us and save another civie.

 

Chill finds another kill team, more like a clean up crew since it consisted of two Bio Troopers, a Bio Rocket Trooper and even a Purifier. Guess ADVENT doesn't want too many Chrysalids running around if any at all after they attempt to wipe out this camp. Well, we'll relieve them of their duties as we'll do the cleanup, after killing them.

 

Chill starts off by tossing an acid grenade on the Purifier and one of the Bio Troopers, Eternal critically wounds the weakened Purifier with a blast of his own while Beast deploys the turret to give flanking fire as well as be a distraction. Said turret even finishes off the Purifier without exploding him. Not-Reaper charges towards the Rocket Trooper and knocks him flat on his arse with her strike, that had to hurt. I grapple up to the top of the building and flank the wounded Trooper making his wounds a little more painful as Addy sends her bot to assist Chill. One trooper focuses on our turret bot while the other runs but not before Chill puts him down with a little overwatch fire. A bug though makes itself known and heads my way like I'm some tasty meaty treat.

 

Meanwhile. Not-Reaper charges the remain Bio Trooper with a slash while Eternal finishes off the Rocket trooper on the ground. Beast comes up to assist me wounding the Chrysalid below me, it must've been young as it's shell took a lot of damage from one shot. I jump down not afraid of the bug and with my mag pistol in its face, “Sorry kid, no TV tonight.” then let out a shot as it shrieked at me finishing it off. Add at this point moves up and uses her healer bot to heal turret bot, little bot on bot love I must say but the thing was a good damn distraction so I wasn't opposed to the metallic kinkiness. Chill comes back outside and waits to see if another bug comes at us, sure it enough it did but Chill blasts a chunk into the bug making it reel back missing our turret pal.

 

Beast and Chill work together trying to kill the beast, more like trying to outdo one another as Chill goes for a flash grappling attack but misses. Guess the two aren't just friends but rivals. Rivals can sometimes be the best of friends. But ultimately Not-Reaper finishes off the bug and the rest of the squad regroup as well as reload to continue the hunt. We all set up an overwatch trap as the turret looks around, it attracts a Chrysalid and the bug manages to dodge a lot of our shots going for it, luckily Not-Reaper and Addy get in good enough hits to kill it before it does any more harm.

 

We look around and find three civvies, but there only one left to rescue, two were Faceless so we had to find the faker and liars. The turrets find one Faceless to which Eternal and Addy combine firepower to put it down. The rest of us take up overwatch as the turret bot scopes out to two other targets. It finds the faceless no problem. Chill and Beast grapple towards the freak and kill it with slashes though Beast does set himself on fire in the process. Well, the last civilian can say he was saved by a burning Skirmisher. Not a tale you hear often. Not quite done though and we find out why the turret finds one last bug and it goes for the bait. With the combined firepower of myself, Addy and Chill we put it down. Central calls in saying all hostiles are down.

 

Well, bug hunt completed and we made extra sure there weren't any bloody nests lurking around, we couldn't save them all but we sure tried our best, Dying to one of those is a fate 'worse' than death. I'll check on Kohlla when I return to the Avenger, tell her how her little prodigy handled the job. Signing off.

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Personal Log #8, Captain Jenny Fleet - September 24, 2035

Some big and shocking news to get out of the way first, I guess. Vintermorgon is back! Apparently she had been left for dead (indeed, her vitals were gone when we had last checked them in the field), but the Skirmishers sent in a team and resuscitated her. Apparently some of these former ADVENT people have some extra built in resistance to minor problems like DYING so that could be a pretty big help. Apparently the process did affect some of her combat ability and memory, and she did seem a bit rusty on this mission, but it is still great to have her back.

We had an emergency mission request to assist a resistance haven that was under attack, and I got called on the mission with Chill, Beast, Reaper, BillyTerror, and Eternal.

Nightmares. That what these chryssalid things are. Nightmares! I was so taken aback by them that I missed my first overwatch shot, as did most of the rest of the team. I made up for it by nailing my next overwatch on an advancing duelist, though.

Unfortunately we encountered a couple mecs in the field for which we were really unprepared for, except for my hacking and BillyTerror's bluescreens. After getting rid of the first two groups, we encountered a large group of civilians, where i helped secure three of them for evacuation and the team secured eight overall.

Unfortunately, one of those chryssalids dug up out of the ground, got past our overwatches, and stabbed and poisoned Reaper, and Beast ended up losing his cool and going Berserk over it too. It ended up kind of working out as Beast ended up killing the chryssalid, but it was still rather frightening to see that happen. Luckily Reaper's wounds weren't too bad and I was able to patch her up.

Being a specialist can sometimes be a thankless job until you need things hacked and need people healed.

After that we had another Mec and trooper show up. BillyTerror and Eternal softened up the Mec, which allowed me to finally shut it down with my combat protocol.

We went into cleanup mode after that and founda group of three bio troopers and a purifier. I'm not sure there is a more lovely group that ADVENT could have put in the field. The team did a great job dispatching of that group (that turret is great. If I wasn't already carrying support items like medkits I would want one for myself), but then even more chyrssalids showed their ugly faces, if you can call them that.

I have to say my most badass moment of this mission, though, was that clutch overwatch when a chryssalid was about to nail our turret and half of the rest of the team missed but I nailed it with a kill shot. See! Little lowly specialists and still fire a gun. I don't ALWAYS need my GREMLIN to do fancy things like killing aliens.

During our cleanup, we found three civilians, but after we confirmed with HQ we got information that there was only one civilian left. That obviously meant two of the three civilians we saw were actually faceless. It's kind of nice knowing that a person you think is just an innocent resistance fighter is about to transform into a giant, ugly blob. Takes a bit of the shock off of it. I was more than happy to finish one off after Eternal softened him up.

Eternal ended up being MVP on that mission. Personally, I was responsible for three kills, and was 4/5 shooting, including 3/4 on overwatches. I only missed that very first one. Still no promotion, but I can taste that Major rank on the tip of my gun.

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Personal log- Scarlett 'Reaper' Barton: entry 4  
October 2nd, 2035.

Today we went on a mission to save some colonists from a resistance camp. This is the reason I fight for, to save as many lives as I can (and get my revenge on advent). The mission started out great, I sliced my way through a couple of chryssalids and advent lackeys and it all seemed to be going well.

Then after we directed a bunch of civilians to safety a chryssalid burrowed up out of nowhere and bolted straight for me. I can't wait till Zoey can teach me bladestorm because this next part might not have happened. The chryssalid reached me because me, vintermorgon and 'beast' all missed our overwatch shots. I don't blame them, that thing could dodge.

Anyway so the chryssalid stabbed me in my left side. Then something crazy happened. 'Beast' just went berserk, I don't really know if it was because he felt responsible for missing the shot that led to my injury, or if he was frustrated he had been missing a few shots earlier in the mission, or if he was just protective of me for some reason. It doesn't matter his reason, he stood up and fired round after round until he killed the bastard. I need to talk to him later to say thank you. When I was stabbed I was winded for a second and if he hadn't killed it things could have become rather scary for me.

'Admiral' sent her gremlin to bandage me up with a Nano med-kit straight away just before 'BillyTerror' (Zoey's usual partner) destroyed a toilet when he got scared thinking he saw something move. Problem was an ADVENT squad was behind it and immediately ran towards us.

Anyway so thing continued down the line of us slaying advent for a while till we couldn't find any more aliens in the area to slay. So now here I am writing my log in the med-bay. Doc says i’m going to be in here for about 10 days so I’ll have to put my training with Zoey off for a while till we both get out, though I think we're going to get to talk for the next few days while we're both in here.

So I mentioned vintermorgon earlier. This was her first mission since being back. Apparently she was a skirmisher with us who was presumed dead in a mission not long before I got back here from Templar H.Q.. Not only did she survive but when we couldn't find her she managed to claw her way back to wherever the skirmisher H.Q. is so she could be sent back to us. She must really like us X-com soldiers…. Or the commander.

Well anyway not much else happened since my last log (not that I haven't written EVERYTHING that WAS interesting)

laters

-End Of Log-

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Firebrand's personal log - October 8th 2035 (Entry #33)

Retaliation mission ... Not exactly clockwork, but close enough. Some minor injuries. The Skirmisher team performed really well. Loads of Chryssie corpses to carry back to the Ranger ... Disgusting things. Creepy too. I'd really not like to face one alive face-to-face. We really have some brave men and women in the barracks, if they're not fazed about taking these things head on.

Finally, we went on to search some more for Vahlen and BigSky. And it seems we got a hit. Some seemingly abandoned facility. Central announced that he's stepping down from the bridge and leading this mission himself. I find this a bit unexpected, but I'm not that surprised. Vahlen and Central had some connection in the old days ... At least, that's how it looked to me. Plus BigSky might have left a trail too. He's important to both of us. I wish I could accompany the old man on the actual mission but ... someone has to stay back with the Ranger. I'm sure the squad will look out for him though and get the job done.

No time to waste. Off to ready the Ranger and get the engines running.

Firebrand out.

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Damon Nights’ Audio Log: October 8th, 2035  
Alright, so today’s mission was a retaliation mission; a squad was sent out to stop an Advent raid on one of our Resistance bases, specifically the one in Eastern Europe. Both of the Skirmishers were sent out on this mission, according to the Commander, it’s sort of going to be a training competition for them, sort of to see if Natalya had gotten rusty or not. Now, I have to admit, I did not spend too much time pouring over the mission files today, I had other things on the mind. But I can say this, unlike before, the Commander successfully saved the majority of the civilians, with only four casualties. Which I find to be great news! As for the performance of the two Skirmishers, well, I can say that they both performed admirably, with ‘Beast’ barely pulling ahead with a few more kills.  
We only spent about a week in the field, mostly the Commander was waiting for Kohlla to finish her recovery so that he could send her on some recovery mission, I think. I can gladly say that she is doing better, but could still use, I don’t know, around four more days in the Infirmary, just so I can make sure she makes a full recovery. We finished locating and gathering those alloys we spent way too much time on, after that, we went to the ruins of a battle site in hopes of finding some loot. Mayhem Protocol finished by the time we arrived, meaning that our SPARKS are more effective when suppressing a target. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that the Commander had the Engineering department make some Heavy Weapons, with the help of some Skirmishers, it went almost instantly, but as for right now, he is having us create a new kind of ammo, always exciting to see what is developed!  
After Kohlla recovered, the Commander had us head over to the sight of the mission he was hoping to undertake. The excavation job finished up pretty soon after arrival. He then ordered the three engineers to clear out even more rubble. He then canceled that job, and assigned them to excavate some exposed power cables. After about three more days of scanning, we found what we were looking for, I assume. From what I can tell, it’s just an alcove in a cliff face, but everyone in High Command seems to think it’s important, I’ll just take their word for it. Bradford decided to take lead of the mission, and along with him came Kohlla, Collux, ‘Beast,’ ‘Doc,’ and Julian. I wish them luck on whatever the heck it is that they are doing.

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Derek Walters. Audio Log Entry 10: Why am I here? Where did it all go so wrong? No matter what I do, I can never save those who I care about. Dmitry, Vorpal, Tex, Shegardy, Natalya, Castellano, I can't help but feel like I could have done something! And why me? Why was I left? Why did Dmitry have to die to the Lost? Why did Vorpal have to sacrifice himself for the team? I'm a coward, a fool. Even as I write this, our team is prepared to go off and die, all in a futile effort to save only a few people. This isn't worth it, this all- Knock knock Go away. Collux: Derek, can you please come out? Walters: No. Collux: Why? Walters: Because it's not helpful! Because no matter what I do, I let everyone down, and everyone around me dies! Collux: You really should. Walters: WHY!? Collux: Vintermorgan is back.  
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War recount 30

So this mission had both Skirmishers going out and to bolster morale the propaganda team had bets going on this mission to see who would do the best. Everyone met down at the bar and watched a live feed of what was happening, there was a lot of people and I mostly stuck to myself in the corner. The mission wasn't that bad and many civilians were saved, with a recruit joining after watching what happened and being impressed (name hasn't come in yet). Celley was brought out again and the engineering crew was happy for more data and I and many other were happy we saw him again. By the end of the mission it read that there was only one refugee left, but there were three on the ground with the team. It didn't take a genius to realize that these were Faceless, but they were able to confuse the Commander when someone heard enemies past the three. Either way mission over and multiple people who are completely innocent safe. When Vintermorgon came back she told us all what had happened with how she was still alive, apparently she was only on the cusp of death and she was rescued by some people and brought back to the resistance. We never picked up her body on that mission, some believed it dissolved away from acid, others believe it had to do with the explosion, but know we know she was just still alive. That other mysterious signal is being investigated and Bradford is going out. Nobody said anything or tried to stop him when he said it he did and that's that. He is an experienced soldier and all, but it's been a while, give or take 20-30 years. Should be interesting.  
Signing out  
Jebediah Primm


	36. Ep 35 - Operation Regal Beast

**Ep 35-----Operation Regal Beast--------------------------------------------------------**  
Log 17: Zoey “Kohlla” Durand  
10/08/2035  
\--- Post-Mission  
The mission was a success, though I wouldn’t consider it so. We got the intel, but neither Vahlen or Big Sky. And to add to that, we now have to deal with three new Alien monstrosities, courtesy of Doctor Vahlen herself. I respect her for her efforts during the first war, but she almost seems as a bad as an ADVENT traitor now, though fortunately for her she isn’t. Her new creations on the other hand? I have no doubt they’ve already joined the Elders in some capacity. Because of Vahlen’s presence at the target site, Bradford joined us on this mission, and he came to the Skyranger lugging around a massive cannon that he passed off as a rifle, and had a sword with him to boot. Though I can’t quite tell what his choice in armour was, it at least kept him alive out there, even after he took a few shots. 

We followed a transmitter beacon to its location, though when Firebrand was preparing landing procedures, I didn’t need the beacon to know where our final destination lay. There was something near the beacon that radiated Psionic energy on a scale that rivalled even that of either of the Chosen, and I was quickly put to unease. I couldn’t quite put my finger on what the exact source was at the time, but now I know that it was the Viper King we faced. 

The transponder was located deep in a cavern, which was to put it grimly, “decorated” with human skulls, though there was also a technological facility within the cave’s walls. On patrol was a new species of Viper, to add to the many that we have already seen, though they were smaller than the regular types, and as such the Commander took to calling them “Neonates”. I was surprised the Commander didn’t bring in Blazkivitz with me, though Collux more than earned his place well within moments of the Skyranger touching down at the target site. He saw his opportunity, and to say that he stepped up was an understatement. With his pistol drawn, he dropped every single one of his targets, each in a single shot, totalling at eight. Not one to let myself be left in the dust however, I rushed forward, straight at the biggest target in the room - a regular Viper. After my past two encounters with Vipers where they’ve poisoned me, I despise their species as a whole, at least more so than other aliens. As I plunged my blades into the Viper, I felt both it’s pain and that of the Neonate behind as a pulse wave surged out from my attack and struck it. Fear consumed both of their minds, as not only had eight of their comrades fallen in the blink of an eye, but now a Templar with a lust for revenge against their entire species was upon them. Bradford followed me in my crusade, and finished off the Viper that I had attacked. In that moment, my burning hatred allowed me to absorb the last few moments of the Viper’s thoughts as it crumpled to the ground, even though I had not been the one to kill it. The rush of emotion was converted into Focus Energy, and channelled into my blades, empowering them as the rest of the squad turned our foes into corpses.

A second wave of Vipers arrived, as Tygan returned his first analysis of the mission recording. This wasn’t just any facility, this was an alien genetics lab, much like the Blacksite had been. My unease from earlier started to bubble up into something worse, as I was presented with the possibilities of what the source the earlier Psionic resonance had been. My mind raced with the thoughts of what alien monstrosity had been made here, and each and every prospect that came of this was nowhere near as bad as what the reality had been. I needed something to steel my nerves, to pull me back into the mission, and the Neonate Vipers preparing to attack were the perfect target. I leapt forward, my blades crackling with Focus Energy and plunged them into one of the Vipers, ending it’s existence with ease in addition to that of it’s ally. They both fell to the ground, their emotions ripped from their minds as they died, and I consumed their fear and pain to empower myself with the resultant Focus Energy. Now my head was back in the game, and my goal became clear. I wasn’t there to rescue Vahlen, she wasn’t my priority. I was there to exterminate whatever manner of abomination she created. It was at this point Vahlen’s full communication was patched through, and each and every one of her words reassured me of my task. I had to kill the Viper King. But first, I had to kill his court. Another squad of Neonate Vipers arrived from the shadows, and without any second consideration, they became the focus of my rage. My blades and psionic wave tore apart two of the Neonates, leaving the other one alive for a few more moments before it too fell to me, right as more of the creatures made their presence known. In that moment, it didn’t matter to me how many of them there were - they would all die, either by my hand my comrade’s. I didn’t see how brash I had been, though looking back I was fortunate enough that my allies were there to have my back. The squad picked off as many as was possible, but then even more started to emerge from every crack and crevice they could. One of the larger Vipers pulled Bradford into an ambush and coiled him up, right as a Neonate took a shot at me, though I parried the attack.

With so many Vipers on the battlefield, it was going to be hard to kill them all, but Collux stepped up once again. With his pistol drawn, he opened fire on nine Vipers, and hit nine Vipers. One of the shots freed Bradford, and I saw my opportunity to thin the horde. I cleaved pair of Neonates apart with my blades and the arc wave that my attack produced, killing both and absorbing their suffering, and then using said suffering to embolden my resolve - something that I needed when the final wave made their approach. In the instant that the new contingent of Neonates emerged, I launched myself right at one of them, vanquishing it with the same ease that I had each of it’s comrades. The same was true for the rest of the squad, who dispatched the remaining Neonates right before Tygan triangulated the transponder’s exact location. Both Central and the Commander were eager to discover if the body that lay in the ice with the beacon was Vahlen’s, but as with before, that was not my purpose on the mission. The psionic resonance that I had sensed when the Skyranger was hanging over the cavern was close, and it radiated with activity. My worst suspicions were proven true in the moments that followed as we stepped into what I quickly realized to be the creature’s lair - Subject Gamma’s lair - the throneroom of the Viper King. The alien quickly arrived to defend its territory, as did its subjects. Fitting of it’s large Psionic presence, the creature reacted even quicker than we could attack it, and right as Beast moved into cover it made a passing attack upon me, using it’s tongue. I parried the attack, giving Beast time to launch a Frost Bomb that paralyzed the creature. We got to work tearing it apart, and my reflexes were almost a match for Gamma’s, though it managed to surprise me and coil me up. I wasn’t restrained for long however, though Gamma summoned a Psionic Portal and escaped through it - something that troubled me greatly. Not only did it have a strong psionic resonance, but one potent enough to create portals - an ability that Templar can only perform within limitations, and the Chosen can only use assisted by technology. To see it done with raw psionic power alone, is more than worrying, not to mention that it is now in the wild, as are two more of Vahlen’s subjects. I will have to send a report to Geist., something that I’ll have the time to do seeing as I’m stuck in the infirmary for a few days.

 

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Firebrand's personal log - October 9th 2035 (Entry #34)

Whatever had possessed Dr. Vahlen to create three super-aliens? If the others are like the one in the mission that Central and the others went on, they would be extremely dangerous. Thankfully, the team damaged this ... Viper King severely. Unfortunately, it escaped through a psionic portal. Why would the Doctor add that ability to the creature? I think the loss of the Commander messed up with her mind big time. I hope she didn't go mad or something. I actually liked Vahlen back at the initial invasion. Smart, ambitious, determined. Now, maybe that ambition got out of hand, like she mentioned in her log ... Poor woman.

Nothing on BigSky unfortunately. There's still hope though. Same for the Doctor. I hope they're both alright.

The squad got back with some injuries, but nothing serious. I've just visited Central, he's going to be fine. I wouldn't be surprised if he would ignore the doctors and head straight back to the bridge.

(mission alarm sounding)

What did I tell you? Yeah ... Ok. Let's ready the Ranger then. I just finished doing some maintenance. Back to work then.

Firebrand out.

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Personal log- Scarlett 'Reaper' Barton: entry 5  
October 8th, 2035.

Ok, so today a squad consisting of Zoey, 'Collux', 'Beast', 'Doc', Julian and Bradford went out. Yea that's right I said Bradford. The last mission Bradford went on lead directly to the commander being brought back to x-com. That just goes to show how important this mission was to him. To be fair the mission was to go investigate a signal left behind by doctor Vahlen.

I don't remember much of doctor Vahlen but what I do remember she was always very driven. Dad always respected her, said she designed almost all of the improvements made during his time fighting along with Shen senior that is. I don't know much but from what I heard, after she went missing she started experimenting in alien genetics. I don't know what happened to her but I hope she's ok.

Anyway I know Zoey got hurt again, it's not too bad though she's currently resting after the mission. I got the doctor to tell me how long she'll be out of action for, he said she wasn't to badly hurt so she would probably get out the same time as me.

So there's really not much to talk about happening around the avenger…. Especially when you’ve been locked in the med-bad for the last six days. I've been going stir crazy since Zoey left with a clean bill of health two days ago, I mean at least she was good company when I could talk to her, now she's back I'm both a bit happy I have her company again and sad she got hurt in the first place.

I've been planning to sneak out of the med bay when nobody's looking tonight and going to use the fabric printer to make some clothes. I've been walking around the avenger in my armor for the last month and a half and I think it's time I actually wore something else. When Zoey showed up I thought about inviting her along but her injuries are fresh so I think it would be better she just stay and not risk them worsening. My injuries are nearly healed though so the risk of injury is minimal, I'M GOING.

So that’s all, I'll tell you how my mischief goes in my next entry (let’s face it, this may as well just be my diary at this point)

Laters

-End Of Log-

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Damon Nights’ Audio Log: October 9th, 2035  
Alright, sort of hyped to see the outcome of today’s mission! This is because I get to help with it! Sort of. Let me explain. Er, actually, it’s kind of a long story, so I’ll summarize it. So yesterday, Collux and myself were called up for a special meeting with none other than Bradford himself! I...I don’t think I made the best first impression, but who cares, right? Well, turns out he had a special missions for each us! Collux was sent out to explore the ruins of the lab of Dr. Vahlen, while I stayed behind to do an equally important job. I was assigned to brief Dr. Tygan on the works of one of my former colleagues, who, it appears, was Dr. Vahlen’s latest lab assistant, then I was to bring some blueprints recovered by Collux to Shen. I assume anyone listening to these will be more interested in what’s going on during actual mission right now, so I’ll get to that. Oh yeah, I’m watching the feed live, which is why my log is in the present tense, instead of my normal use of past tense when recapping events. Upon arrival at the site, Bradford discovered the remains of a dead scientist, who had a recording from Vahlen about information that needed to reach him as quickly as possible, but they died before making it to the evac point they were headed to. Outside of the lab were several interesting Vipers, they seemed, younger, more undeveloped. Together, Tygan, his team of scientists, and myself were able to recover some of Vahlen’s audio logs, but I think he claimed most, if not all, of the credit. Like the elite soldier he is, Collux was able to take down each and every one of the miny Viper with total ease, killing them all in one shot. He’s got my vote for M.V.P. Inside the lab were two fully grown, or, I guess, adult Vipers, with two of the smaller ones, each of them fell quickly, but what else would you expect from this group of “super” soldiers? Inside the entryway of the lab were these holographic displays, depicting what appears to be heavily augmented Aliens, specifically a Viper, an Archon, and a Berserker. To think that Ana was helping to create these abominations is disturbing, to say the least. It turns out that the “message” that Vahlen sent wasn’t a message at all, but a warning to those foolish enough to try to explore the ruins of her lab, which appears to have been destroyed by the augmented Aliens they were working on. I’m afraid to say this, but there’s a chance that this may be Ana’s resting place. The entire facility seems to be filled with goddamn Vipers, so I gotta say, I pity the squad! Yep, Vipers, freaking everywhere, they even came out of these tunnels back near the entrance, flanking the squad. Though they didn’t seem to be that big of a threat, because yet again, Collux was able to kill the majority of them! I got to remember to buy that guy a drink when he gets back. For some strange reason, the Infrared Scanner showed a massive decrease in temperature, which makes no sense in the middle of the desert, in the day time. This makes me kind of worried for what could be up ahead. Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit! I think we found what killed Vahlen! I have no idea what this thing is that I’m looking at, but it appears to an augmented Viper, I’m assuming frost related, seeing as it is living with all this ice. Vahlen mentioned something about subject Gamma being male, instead of the conventional female, and that subject Gamma escaped. So I think I can say with clarity that this is subject Gamma, the only male, frost Viper on Earth. This thing seems much more aggressive than the females, attempting to attack each squadmate after they do something. The thing managed to escape, and it was fast enough that neither Kohlla nor Bradford were able to stab it. The remaining Vipers were killed off with relative ease. Luckily, I assume luckily, it was not Vahlen we found dead, and I’m happy to say that while surveying all the corpses through Julian’s G.R.E.M.L.I.N.’s camera feed I did not see Ana’s body, which is great news! All around the ship, workers and soldiers alike have been calling this new creature, the Viper King.  
I’m glad to say that Julian is back to his full strength, and then some, I’m excited to see his progression. We didn’t have time to do anything before a new Guerilla Ops came available. The Commander decided to choose the mission that would deal with Advent’s new armor upgrade by killing the field commander who is carrying the final components needed to complete their project. Collux was sent out again, which means I won’t be able to buy him that drink anytime soon, but I’ll make sure he gets it when he comes back. I wish them luck, though I don’t know if they’ll need it.

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War recount 31

Today the team went out to investigate the other strange signal with Bradford going out with the team. Come to think of it a lot of important moments have occurred due to strange signals possibly sent by old members of XCOM, strange. Either way the signal was investigated and ,well, it's a long story. So when the team arrived they scouted ahead and saw multiple underdeveloped "baby" Vipers which Collux took out immediately. The squad made their way through the facility taking out any other baby Vipers with voice recordings by Vahlen found by Tygan going in the background. As they went on the recordings got more ominous and from what we learned she found three other more powerful variants of aliens and toyed with them. She also apparently made a boy Viper out of one, which showed up not so long after this. This new Viper is being called the Viper King and is fast enough to attack just as someone finishes doing something. He made a portal and left after being frozen and burned with acid, but word is that he'll be back and so will his friends. The team didn't get long to rest before a op showed up for the assassination of a Advent field commander. Let's hope the rulers don't show up.  
Signing out  
Jebediah Primm

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Derek Walters. Audio Log Entry 11: This is all too much to take in! Vintermorgan is back? How? Is this a clone? Did she fake her death? I still haven't even talked about the mission! Oh the mission! This is incredible! 3 new monsters, these, Rulers, as they are called. They truly are spectacular, if extremely deadly. But I shouldn't be praising them, nor Vahlen herself. These things will inevitably kill one of one. On a brighter note, Collux is doing insane right now! At the start of the mission, he downed 8 vipers with his pistol, like in one of those old western movies! This is a new chance for me! With Vintermorgan back and morale at an all time high, this is my chance to make amends. Another day, another opportunity. Walters out. End Log

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DISPLAY LOG (ROV-R)  
<2010:29 08.10.2035> I’m sorry, Central Officer Bradford. Though I don’t know if you are more disappointed that we have not found her, or with what she’s done.  
<2010:33 08.10.2035> Post-mission scan protocol requires me to issue a medical alert for strangulation and ask you to report to the infirmary along with Zoey. The usual.   
<2010:36 08.10.2035> Even though I know you will completely ignore me and go straight to the bridge. Beep-boop. I am a robot. Please don’t take notice of my fully emergent sentience.  
<2010:41 08.10.2035> Wait, why are you coming back to me?  
<2010:43 08.10.2035> Play: Girl from Ipanema – Frank Sinatra  
<2010:44 08.10.2035> …move along nothing to see here. This GREMLIN contains no emergent AI whatsoev_

Good evening, Central Officer JOHN BRADFORD  
<2010:46 08.10.2035> User MOIRA VAHLEN has been dismissed from the Avenger HR directory. Confirm? Y/N_  
<2015:46 08.10.2035> ROV-R is awaiting a response from Central Officer JOHN BRADFORD. Remind in: 2 HOURS  
<2022:01 08.10.2035> Y

Central Officer JOHN BRADFORD, if you or someone you know is struggling emotionally, help is available at the Infirmary. Shall I arrange a consultation? Y/N_

<2022:06 08.10.2035> N  
<2022:11 08.10.2035> User BIG SKY has been removed from the Avenger HR directory. Confirm? Y/N_

Administrator LILY SHEN would like to remind all users that removal of personnel from the Avenger staff directory or troop rosters, when death or dismissal cannot be confirmed beyond reasonable doubt, results in uncertainty and affects morale. This warning has been put in place following the incorrect designation of CPT. NATALYA ‘CHILL’ VINTERMORGON as Killed-in-Action during Operation Empty Blade.

<2022:20 08.10.2035> N


	37. Ep 36 - Operation Demon Stank

**Ep 36-----Operation Demon Stank-------------------------------------------------------**  
\- Recording Starting -

Hunter Peterson's Log #4

Finally got some action again. With some new gear too. Not a bad mission. Pretty close to a failure, but not a bad mission. I missed some easy shots, I'll admit, but I think I pulled my weight in the end. Hit some nasty shots on important targets. Oh, uh so Vintermorgon is back, I guess? I didn't really talk about it when it happened, but yeah she's back. Guess we should have expected it would have taken more than some acid to kill her. The big Robot is active again too. Weird that my first mission back has the same two soldiers that "died" on my last mission. Glad to see them back in action though.

But overall pretty normal mission, nothing too out of the ordinary I guess. Oh, except the mother of all Mutons. Like what the fuck. Thing was huge. Strong enough to create a mini earthquake. Thank god it didn't hit any of us. Well, any of us fleshy people anyway. We're not made out of the same stuff as Julian. Apparently it was a result of the good doctor Vahlen. Whatever it is, we can kill it. And we will eventually. Along with her other pet projects. Also, I got set on fire again. I'm getting tired of having to go though burn treatments. XCOM should really invest in flame retardant under-suits or something. If we're shooting lasers out of our hands and shit in the future, we better be resistant to fire. 

One more thing, Cpl. Peterson is now Sgt. Peterson. Movin' up in the world. What's left of it anyway. 

\- End Recording -

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Firebrand's personal log - October 17th 2035 (Entry #35)

Real nailbiter, that last mission. All because of one of Dr. Vahlen's misguided products showed up during the mission and seriously delayed the team from achieving their objective. The ADVENT transport was right there ... thankfully, Chill had managed to stun the General for enough time for Vagabond to move in and end him. I was close to asking for permission to ram the transport, if that last shot wouldn't have hit. Not sure what outcome that would've been ... but I'm here to support the team in any way I can. A few bruises for me wouldn't have been an issue.

The Spark was seriously damaged during the mission. But at least it made it out to Engineering, where it would receive repairs.

Infirmary suffered some damage after Bitch #1 performed a sabotage act there. Soldier recovery would take a bit longer, but they'll get there. These idiot Chosen may try to slow us down ... but they are only delaying the inevitable.

Alright. A VIP rescue mission in West Africa. Half of the squad are female. Girl Power. No offense, gentlemen. Let's roll.

Firebrand out.

 

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DISPLAY LOG (ROV-R)  
<0913:25 09.10.2035> begin PML-035  
<0913:26 09.10.2035> Initializing post-mission scan…  
<0913:34 09.10.2035> # Soldiers = 6/6  
<0913:37 09.10.2035> Medical alert: Concussion, Thermal burns

MAJ. COLLUX  
SGT. HUNTER ‘VAGABOND’ PETERSON

PLEASE REPORT TO THE INFIRMARY IMMEDIATELY  
<0913:41 09.10.2035> # Avenger Personnel (Scientist) = 1/0  
VNG. JULIAN IS DUE FOR REPAIRS IN THE WORKSHOP

Good morning, User SGT. STEPAN ‘KEBAB’ EVTUSHENKO  
<1009:58 09.10.2035> You do not have permission to view the PRE-ENLISTMENT HISTORY of CPT. NATALYA ‘CHILL’ VINTERMORGON.  
<1010:05 09.10.2035> You do not have permission to view the RELATIONSHIP STATUS of CPT. NATALYA ‘CHILL’ VINTERMORGON.  
<1010:13 09.10.2035> Healthy Skirmishers and humans have a body temperature of 36.5–37.5 °C (97.7–99.5 °F).  
<1010:18 09.10.2035> I am unable to form an opinion on the relative ‘hotness’ of organics. GREMLIN programming perceives designated allies as equally attractive, yourself and CPT. NATALYA ‘CHILL’ VINTERMORGON included.  
<1010:29 09.10.2035> My owner is Administrator LILY SHEN. I have not made sufficient observations of CPT. NATALYA ‘CHILL’ VINTERMORGON to determine her personal tastes in food, drink, or leisure.  
<1010:34 09.10.2035> I have even less information on which to predict her mate preferences, if any.  
<1010:40 09.10.2035> ROV-R strongly recommends you ASK. HER. YOURSELF.

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Personal log- Scarlett 'Reaper' Barton: entry 6  
October 9th, 2035.

Well, when I wrote an entry last night I didn't think I'd be writing another for at least two days. Ah well what can you say, we've been busy the past few weeks. So while I was out on my clothing date with the printer, a squad of 'huntsman', 'Collux', 'Chill', Julian, 'Kebab' and 'Vagabond'. Their mission was to kill off an advent officer who had some important intel.

Unfortunately, or fortunately (depending on how you think) during the mission, they ran into one of doctor Vahlen's super powered aliens, this time a berserker variant. It knocked out the bio trooper defector (did I mention him earlier… no ah well) then did some damage to Julian before taking too much damage and running away with its tail between its legs.

Now onto what I really want to talk about. Sneaking out was easy last night, I got up when the nurse was in the other room and walked right out the door when the guard was looking the other way. It took barely fifteen minutes before I found the printer room. It was rather small but I suppose on the avenger there wasn't much room to put it anyway. It was just a small ways off from the engineering bay (I think probably so that Shen can fix it quickly if anything goes wrong.

So once I got into the printer room there was a private room to take my clothes off in and activate a scanner so it would scan my exact measurements so any clothing I printed would fit perfectly. It felt awkward moving around while the scanner did it's thing, but I can already tell you the results are definitely worth it.

So after that I put my clothes back on and moved onto the computer where I could completely design everything. It was awesome!. I ended up just printing two pairs of dark blue jeans for legwear. For shirts I spent some time and designed some cool graphic tees one pretty form fitting and one a little bit more loose. I already had some underwear but I figured a few more pairs couldn’t hurt.

After I had designed everything I started to print everything and found out that I had used up all of my printing allowance for the month, the only reason I could do everything I had designed was because I had a little bit extra for the month I didn't use last month. Next time I might make a dress or something.

I'm glad I wasn't disturbed while I did my clothes, perks of doing it late at night I suppose. After I went to my room to drop off my new clothes I headed back to the infirmary, the nurse was practically foaming at the mouth when I arrived and I'm sure the only reason she didn't yell at me was because other people were still sleeping. She checked me over for fifteen minutes making sure I hadn't reopened any wounds before mumbling angrily to "get some sleep" before leaving me be.

So that was my excitement for a while, hopefully we can get out of here in a few days without being sent on a mission straight away so Zoey can help train me a bit, maybe even have a mock fight like I used to against other Templars.

Well that’s me done for tonight anyway

Laters

-End Of Log-

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Damon Nights’ Audio Log: October 17th, 2035

Pretty standard mission today, Advent General is doing a routine patrol, we go in to kill them, and their death will disrupt Advent’s operations. The mission started out great as well, we had another Advent defector joining us. A couple groups of Aliens were spotted near the drop point, but most of them died relatively quickly, with only a Viper escaping. Well shit, I thought that mission would be kinda slow, but nope, from out of nowhere pops one of Vahlen’s little experiments. This one appears to be the heavily modified Berserker that was portrayed in one of the holograms in her lab. People around the ship have taken to calling it, I’m sorry, her, the Berserker Queen. She seems even more aggressive than her non-modified kin, and has some sort of fluid being pumped into her back. The damnable thing can cause, miniature quakes in the ground, knocking people flat on their backs. Like the Viper King, she seems to take every opportunity to retaliate when someone does something. For better or worse, the Berserker Queen escaped, before the squad could kill her, or she could kill them. The Advent General almost made his escape during the Berserker Queen attack, but Vintermorgen was able to stop him just before he could escape. Sadly, a Purifier burned her before she could make any attempts to kill the General. Luckily, ‘Vagabond’ was able to finish him off. Almost everyone, if not all of them, was wounded, so I’ll be able to hear firsthand what this latest monstrosity was like. Gotta buy Collux two rounds now, seeing as he just got promoted to Major.  
We continued rummaging through the battlefield in hopes of scavenging some supplies, but almost immediately upon arrival, the new ammo type was completed. During the continued search, the Covert Ops members returned, bringing with them a lead to a Black Site facility. The next group to go on a Covert Op were sent out to do some intense training. Kept scanning for supplies, making good progress. HOLY SHIT! I...I just saw the goddamn Chosen Assassin running out of the Infirmary, MY INFIRMARY! What the hell is she doing here! **The log goes silent as Damon rushes out of his room to check up on the Infirmary.** Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit! So it turns out that the Assassin snuck onto the Avenger somehow and damaged all my medical equipment, and either stole or destroyed most of my supplies! I swear to god, someone better make her pay for this. Hell, I’m just lucky I wasn’t in there when it was happening. Oh crap, with all this commotion, I forgot to talk about the new ammo that was created. They are called Dragon Rounds, very similar in use to the Venom Rounds, but instead of tiny capsules of, well, venom, Dragon Rounds have tiny capsules of napalm inside of them. So, we spent the next day or so after that mess searching for the supplies again, and finally found them. The Commander wisely decided that we needed to stock up on more supplies, which also means paychecks for all of the staff. I’m still saving up for that celebration, though I’m going to have to halt planning to fix up the Infirmary while also doing my job and fixing soldiers up. Before we finished claiming the supplies, the Council called in with an important mission.  
The Council wants us to recover an XCOM V.I.P. from an Advent cell, which doesn’t sound too hard, especially since the Shadow Chamber is only showing nine life forms in the area. None of them too major of threats, I think. Collux was sent on this mission, and I wish him luck, though I think he has more than enough skill to pull himself through.

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Personal Log #10, Captain Jenny Fleet - October 9, 2035

So the mission the team went on was to eliminate an ADVENT general. It's always a good feeling to knock off a general. As usual I was watching the mission feed from the bridge.

The team engaged before finding the location of the general and unfortunately got bogged down fighting other units, including a Heavy Mec. And then a giant modified Beserker showed up! It's apparently one of those monsters that woman Vahlen that Central was searching for a couple days ago created. And yes, it's as bad if not worse than the Viper that another team faced during that mission.

I guess I can't say anything because I wasn't there, but the team really missed some important shots during this mission, and especially against that Beserker thing. It ended up escaping but almost just as well in this case.

The Transport actually arrived but Vintermorgan got a clutch stun on the General that prevented him from leaving, and Vagabond ended up finishing him off. After that they only had to deal with another heavy Mec and a purifier that they were out of position to face, but they ended up taking care of them in the end.

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War recount 32

The squad went out today and just barely was able to kill the target. It was mainly due in part to the giant Berserker Queen that showed up and created minor seismic activity, yah know, no big deal. All joking aside though, another Ruler showed up, a Queen Berserker. She was able to hold back the team long enough for the field commanders evac to arrive, but Vintermorgon and Vagabond were able to cancel his flight shall we say (note to self, never do one liners). Vagabond was burned after a failed attempt to do the same to Vintermorgon. In the end though XCOM pulled through once more as we always do and no one died. Whoa, edit, so apparently the Assassin was able to somehow sabotage the infirmary and now some people are going to take a while longer to be ready for battle. The next mission is a Council mission and the team is extracting a VIP.  
Singing out  
Jebediah Primm

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Reapers Log: 22  
October 11, 2035.  
Operation: Warriors Of The Sun.  
It’s been a while since I last wrote a log. Mostly because I was assigned to go on this covert op so I can finally get my promotion that I’ve been seeking for the past 2 months. My partner in crime was nicknamed “Harbinger”, a ranger who has been doing pretty decently in the ranks and skills on the ground. 

We both have been assigned to track down one of the Advent facilities with the aid of the skirmishers. The both of us and several skirmishers disguised as advent troopers went undercover in one of the advent cities in the post-invasion country of Mother Russia! Ahem. 

Anyway, we all made a plan on how to get into the advent database with enough time to gather enough information for the location of an advent facility. The skirmishers would infiltrate one of the gene therapy clinics and distract the guards, while Harbinger and I would sneak in the main control room to hack into the network. Once we got the information we need, we would sneak out, while the skirmishers would go to a remote area so they won’t be under the eyes of Advent while they go back to their original uniforms.

At first, things were going smoothly. The skirmishers managed to persuade the guards thanks to their fluency in the Advent Language. I easily snuck through the doors, with Harbinger following suit. I’ve started to put suppressors on my Deathsco rifle so that way others won’t know my presence when I instantly kill the guards in the control room. Harbinger wasn’t doing that bad of a job either, since his sword can cut through the guards like a knife through butter instantly. Once we hid all of the dead bodies in the storage rooms where they keep their equipment for.. Medical purposes, we went in the control room to figure out how to access the data we need. After some trial and error, we eventually got what we were after; it was located in Russia itself, not too far from here. I also found where the nearest Advent burger joint was, so on my way out of the city, I would have to sneak in there to grab some lunch for me. Maybe Tygan as well as long as he shuts up about them. 

Once I wrote down the coordinates on my arm, we were greeted with a bunch of Advent soldiers blocking our only way out of the room. At first I thought they were the skirmishers in disguise, but I saw that there were sectoids and the many types of vipers with them as well. I immediately grabbed Harbingers arm as thrown and shot the claymore midair in front of their faces. Harbinger slapped his arm away from me once we made our pursuit to escape the city. Fortunately, we managed to lose them as we're engaged in concealment. Apparently I was shot on my arm, because I felt an aching pain from it. I would imagine it would hurt a lot more if it wasn’t for the adrenaline that was pumping through my entire body. I told Harbinger that we got what we came for, and it was time to go. I intentionally took the shortest way possible that hitted the nearest Advent Burger joint. Since advent was on alert on our presence, we asked someone to buy the burgers for us. They were hesitant at first, but our weapons told that person that it was ok to buy them for us. We got 3 double advent burgers. Mine had no onions and pickles, with some Advent sauce on it, while Harbingers had everything on it. As a troll, we got Tygan a plain normal advent burger.

Let me tell you something; Advent burgers are possibly one of the best burgers that I ever tasted. I’m not sure if it was because I had to eat things with no seasoning for the past 20 years, or if they pumped their meats with addicting flavoring. It kind of rivals the burgers that one of the post-invasion food joints were made. The chain was named Burger King. I only gone there a couple of times since my hometown only had a McDonalds and a Subway.

Getting back on topic, we managed to eventually escape the city borders through a sewer system since border security was ridiculously tight. You would have to get a full XCOM squad to deal with those guys. We rendezvous backed to the meeting spot and the skirmishers were waiting on us. They weren’t that happy that they had to deal with a strike force while we snuck off on them, but at least the mission was complete, and that was all that matters.

I learned 2 things from that Covert Op:  
1, Don’t ditch your allies over advent burgers.  
2, Having suppressors on guns makes you a silent killer.

Once we arrived back on the avenger, Odd rewarded us each with a promotion. About time considering the amount of waiting I had to do. I complained about it, but not to others except in my logs.

Also, you know the person I had to meet with that Zoey was dying to make me see? You wouldn’t have believed it, but it was Vintermorgan, alive as well. I was dumbstruck at what a miracle this must be. I kind of regret doing the memorial now for her. She apologized for having us worry, and told us how she managed to beat against all odds to survive while we were away. I will go more in depth later about this story. Unfortunately, due to the physical strain that she was in since she was in death's door, her skills aren’t as sharp as she was before, basically making Beast the top skirmisher that we have to offer, though I hope she can get back on top like the rest of us.

I know that this has been a long log, but so much has happened while I was gone, i’m still trying to wrap my head around all of this completely still. Until then,  
-Rodats, Out.

-End Of Log.


	38. Ep 37 - Operation Shackled Mountain

**Ep 37-----Operation Shackled Mountain-----------------------------------------------**  
Journal Entry 19#  
Name: Will 'Billy-Terror' Blazkivitz  
Date: 17th October 2035  
Operation: Shackled Mountain

 

Another rescue the VIP Op, working with Kohlla again for this one. Nice to know all our teamwork training actually being put to bloody use, was annoying how separated we were for a while but Kohlla assures me that at the time it was necessary. Who am I to argue? She's so damn convincing at the right moment. We're rolling with Rumble, Collux, Addy and Powell as well. The more I work with them the more I respect them and expect them to do their jobs.

 

We touch down in the middle of a park square right into a fountain, we push up to a nearby building with Rumble taking to the streets to scout as the rest of us go up high. Rumble scouts out an Andromedon with a two Magma Vipers while the squad takes up ambush positions. I spy all three right in the open, time to shot the team how far my aim has come. I aim my sights and tell Powell to shoot a grenade, she seems a little hesitant at first but I just keep a sharp eye on the targets. As she finally moves up I count to four and inhale, Powell, lets the grenade fly, wounding the group of contacts and the chaos starts. I count to four again, exhale just before the three targets scramble to cover. With swift speed, I gun down both Magma Vipers as they fled towards cover before seriously cracking the glass on the Andromedon's suit. I glance over to Kohlla with a smile on my face asking “Think that was enough?”

 

The rest of the squad focuses on blasting the Andromedon and that bastard sure is tanky, even with rumble deploying the turret to blow away it's cover it shrugged off most of the shots like they were nothing. Kohlla even hanged back in case we'd found more trouble hiding and asked if I could do anything. What could I do now I did all I could, these gauss shots need time to charge up another shot you know your lucky I pulled off that stunt in the first place. So I decide to take a pistol shot and manage to hit the crack I cause on its dome line windshield, Addy at this point finished off the life form inside it but now we had a walking robot suit coming at us. I put another shot into the bot and suggest over to Kohlla to overwatch shot with her pistol. At this moment The Hunter dropped by, great, guess The Assassin was busy torturing civilians. Well, I said I wanted another crack at him, guess I got my chance.

 

The Andromedon shell charges the turret but Rumble manages to get a swing of his blade to its side making its punch miss our turret, Collux gave the shell two mag pistol rounds as I went to higher ground and shot my own pistol finishing off the robot suit. The rest of the squad moves towards the target's prison with the turret taking the lead, though not that smart as it hovers through acid the Andromedon shell left behind. I take up a sniper vantage point cover the team as they proceed. The turret manages to find an ADVENT group, a Medic, a Purifier and a Trooper.

 

Collux and I spy the turret hitting the Purifiers so we combine or sniper shots and finish it off. Normally don't see Collux use his rifle but good to see he's not just good with a pistol like a true Sharpshooter. The rest of the squad pushes up as ADVENT try to get rid of our turret, only the Trooper fires on it as the Medic deploys a smoke grenade on his position. The Hunter at this moment had a taking shot on our turret since he didn't like our advanced scouting tactics.

 

Well, the turret wasn't going to be dismayed by smoke and actually hits the Medic hiding in it, Kohlla decides to join in and all I hear from the cover of smoke was an ADVENT scream. Kohlla was like a ninja, a psi ninja, hey that could've worked well for my next film role if I ever pursue that career after the war. Unfortunately, while killy like a ninja Kohlla sure isn't stealthy as she draws the attention of a Bio Rocket Trooper and a Shieldbearer. Rumble though shows how it's done by sneaking up on the Rocket Trooper and kills it with one blast of his mag shotgun. That had to hurt. Meanwhile, Kohlla moved towards the ADVENT Trooper's position taking him by surprise but allowed me to get eyes on him, I take careful aim shooting past Kohlla and heavily wounding the trooper, my partner finishes off the wounded Trooper as he attempts to flee as the rest of the team moves up to assist. Though as Kohlla kills the Trooper it turns into a psi zombie, great timing. I hear a gunfight between the Shieldbearer and Rumble but the blue wearing Assault seems to have anything under control. At this point, the Hunter turns his sights to Collux.

 

Kohlla meanwhile doesn't let the zombie have a chance to do anything and just kills it outright, our turret pal blows out the cover of the Shieldbearer allowing Powell to rip up his armour with some cannon fire. I grapple overtaking a page from the Skirmisher's book to take a pistol shot at him but no need as Addy chips in to put him down. Though that bastard just gets back up as a zombie as well, though Rumble and I make sure it's double dead as soon as it got up with one pistol and shotgun blast from each respective weapon user. Collux at this time just gets out of the Hunter's sights.

 

Powell moves up and the Hunter spies her, time to start this fight I guess, but most of the squad weren't in the best spots to fight. As we get into various positions, myself taking cover in the enemy's smoke cloud up high Kohlla though can't slash at the guy used her powers to zap him at least with a lightning bolt. The Hunter though didn't take kindly to that as he summoned some pets, Chrysalids, one normal one and big fucking hulking one with green bits that seemed to leak acid. Then instead of running to cover he turned his sights to me, he knew I was Kohlla's partner as he expertly shot at me through the smoke stating he was the best there is. I felt my guts on in searing pain as I looked down, no standard plasma burns this time I saw actual blood, whatever his rounds were I can tell you one thing, they weren't made to kill, they were made to maim.

 

I kept my cool holding my bleeding wounds as Addy sent her GREMLIN to patch me up, Kohlla though was pissed I could tell as she charged in a rage against the Chrysalids since she knew she can't hurt the Hunter with her blades. I saw a spray of acid hit my partner as she sliced into the giant bug but she ignored the burning pain as she was dead set on destroying the creature. Rumble came in to assist taking on the smaller Chrysalid and almost killed it with his poisoned scimitar. The turret comes into our aid blasting the Hunter as Powell gets into a good flanking position, meanwhile, Collux uses his grapple to zip into the frontlines some more as well. We could seriously put a hurting on the Hunter if we worked together.

 

My fellow sharpshooter gets into a spot to hit the big Chrysalid even setting it on fire with a pistol round, then does his thing of blasting every foe in sight once wounding the Hunter, the big bug and even killing the little bug for Rumble. Powell takes this opportunity to fire on the Hunter shredding some of his armour and I decide to take action, I swiftly use my own pistol on the big bug distracting it away from Kohlla and she finishes it off as I take careful aim at the Hunter. You want to set best you got? Well, I'm the best at what I do and what I do ain't pretty pal. I let loose my own shot and I saw the pain on his face as he growled at me, yeah bet that fucking hurt you purple bastard. Addy decides to help out getting rid of the avid on my partner's body with her heal bot. The Hunter though takes offence to this and tries to shoot Kohlla but my partner too good to let that happen as she blocks the high powered shot before glaring to the hunter. Oh yeah, she's pissed.

 

Kohlla returns the favour with one of her rarely used ranged powers as she blasts the Chosen right out of his cover. Powell follows up with freezing the bastard before Rumble and Collux combine firepower to put down the purple freak. For now, with that done Addy and I move to rescue the VIP with Addy grabbing some info one an off-site supply cache in the meantime, bonus. Once we have the VIP freed we start making our way to the EVAC point, though some ADVENT re-enforcements came our way. The VIP went up first as ADVENT dropped down, consisting of a Bio Assault Trooper, Purifier and Shieldbearer. The bloody Bio Assault tanked everything we had and still loved. But hey we had the VIP and we're at the ECAC, we decide to cut loose and bug out.

 

My wounds though healed were fucking painful, Kohlla was a little worried but Addy assured me I'd be fine. Once we got back on the Avenger though my partner practically dragged to the medical deck making sure most of my weight was on her shoulder. Guess it's returning the favour for the times I rushed her to the medical deck but I insisted she'd get those alien acid burns looked at. Good to know I have an awesome partner looking out for me and we laughed when I mentioned: “Did you see the face of that Chosen when I shot back, yeah I can give just much as I can take.” Good times, though I bet I seriously worried Zoey there. Did I just- fuck it can't be bothered to cross it out, I need some rest before my partner hounds me to get some sleep already. Signing off.

 

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Log 18: Zoey “Kohlla” Durand  
17/08/2035  
\--- Post-Mission  
Despite the Hunter’s interference, we successfully managed to extract the VIP from the ADVENT city centre. The mission started off well, as we weren’t met with an ADVENT patrol the moment we set foot in the AO, though we did find one after some searching. Two Magma Vipers and an Andromedon, though Powell and Blazkivitz made short work of the two pieces of slithering scum, and left the Andromedon full of holes and ripe for the slaughter. The Commander was hesitant to let me run in and tear the thing apart, which is understandable given what had occured in the last few missions. Instead, the rest of the squad whittled the Andromedon down, killing the creature inside by leaving the suit intact enough that it could still use its former pilot as a puppet. I was left to take overwatch with my auto-pistol, but I failed in my attack - something that I regret, though l was fortunate enough that my failure didn’t do any major damage to my teammates. Rumble, Will and Collux picked up my slack, doing what I could not and killing the Andromedon for good. The corpse of one of the Magma Vipers that had fallen earlier had just enough residual psionic energy for me to approach it’s body and convert what remained into Focus energy before moving up with the rest of the squad. 

The Celatid turret took point, and drew out a squad of ADVENT puppets that now stood in our path to the VIP. Collux and Will worked together to snipe the Purifier into oblivion before it could even consider warming up it’s flamethrower, leaving only a Trooper and a Medic. The latter of the two threw down a smoke grenade to cover himself whilst the Trooper opened fire on the Turret, missing by quite a wide margin, and the Hunter followed up by marking it for a tracking shot on it. It seemed that all of the shooting riled up what little intelligence the turret had, as it lit the Medic up with a volley of shots that tore it’s armour apart - leaving it exposed for me to finish the job. With the smoke to cover me I charged the Medic, slicing it to pieces with a single strike. I didn’t need to consume the Medic’s thoughts to know of the surprise and fear it felt as I emerged from the smoke and tore it apart, though my blades did give me an insight into just how much pain it felt - something that allowed me to further empower my blades. My attack however, despite the fact I was concealed by the smoke, drew the attention of a Rocket trooper and a Shieldbearer, though Rumble used the opportunity to turn the former into chunks with a well-placed shotgun blast. Rather than parry, the Commander had me charge the remaining Trooper, in addition to letting Will place a shot that ripped through it’s armour. I could tell from the wound that it had been poisoned, something that was confirmed once my blades sunk into its body and I ripped it’s agony from it’s mind. It seems however, that regardless of my efforts to kill it, the Elders were able to manipulate their psionic powers to revive the Trooper as some twisted, undead abomination - though it was one that I dispatched with the same ease that I had when it had truly been alive. Whilst the creature was too brainless to feel any true emotion, the psionic energy that had revived it proved to be ripe enough for me to convert into Focus energy regardless.

Now the only enemy that remained on the battlefield was the Hunter, and with the knowledge that my blades would be ineffective against him, the Commander instead directed me to conjure my powers into a blast of Psionic energy that crackled with electricity, which I then loosed upon the Hunter, shocking him. In retribution however, he opted to summon two aliens that I’ve never even seen before - disgusting, insectoid creatures, with chitinous plates that dripped with acid, which the Commander referred to as Chryssalids. It was in that very moment that Will then came under fire from the Chosen, which pierced his armor and left him critical, though he stayed cool and returned the favor against the Hunter with a shot so precise it ripped through his armour and poisoned him too. Seeing my partner be struck in such a way boiled my blood with anger, and I turned my fury against one of the Chryssalids. It’s mind was incredibly basic and primitive, though it was complex enough to feel the simple concepts of both fear and pain, which were both emotions that I eagerly tore from it. In striking the Chryssalid some of the acid in it’s blood splashed back onto me, singeing my armour and some of my skin but leaving me overall intact. Now I was seething with hatred, and I directed my anger into a second attack against the Chryssalid that reduced it to nothingness. It was at this moment that the Hunter turned his attention to me, though I was more than ready for him. I parried his shot with ease, before hitting him with an attack of my own, launching him out of cover and into a frost bomb that was ready and waiting to turn him into an icicle. Collux and Rumble used the opportunity to their advantage, and sent the Hunter crawling back to the Elders.

Will and Jenny rescued the VIP, prompting ADVENT reinforcements to deploy in response, but by the time they set foot on the ground, we were already in the air, though we left a few parting gifts. The docs say I have to spend some time in the medbay to recover from the acid, though I’m already feeling far better. I still have to stay here for a few days though, but once I’m done I’m ready to go right back into the action.

 

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Personal Log #11, Captain Jenny Fleet - October 17, 2035

Went on another mission, this one led by Kohlla the Templar. Our mission was to rescue a VIP from an ADVENT jail cell. We went into this mission fearing that the Hunter or one of those alien monsters might show up so we were on pretty high alert.

The first group Rumble encountered as an Andromedon and some magma vipers, which are as bad as they sound. Our young grenadier '1 x 1' Powell started things off by fragging the entire group, and BillyTerror nailed all three with a Kill Zone, killing both vipers, which was awesome if I do say so myself. Rumble threw out the turret so it could destroy the Andromedon's cover and then he and BillyTerror softened him up a bit so I could finish him off with combat protocol. Man it feels nice to electrocute some aliens to death.

Of course, that left the stupid Andromedon shell, but it's a bit easier to deal with. What was worse was that - as we feared - the Hunter chosen decided to show his face. As the commander hoped, the shell went after the turret, allowing Collux to soften it up and BillyTerror to finally end it.

We advanced on the ADVENT jail and encountered our second ADVENT group, consisting of a purifier, trooper, and medic. Collux and BillyTerror tag-teamed to purify the purifier. The Hunter tried targeting the turret but it out of of his site and hit a pretty sweet shot on the medic, allowing Kohlla to do what she does. In the process she got eyes on the last group, which included a Shieldbearer and a Bio Rocket Trooper.

Rumble ran in and one-shot the Bio Rocket Trooper because that's what he does. BillyTerror nailed the regular trooper, allowing Kohlla to bladestorm him to death. But then...the trooper became a zombie all on his own! Shit, ADVENT is doing some weird shit with their ADVENT troopers. Luckily Kohlla was able to take care of that thing easily as well.

The Hunter then decided to try to target Collux, which he was able to get out of again. The only ADVENT left at that point was the shieldbearer. The turret destroyed it's cover allowing Powell to shred it's armor, allowing me to hit a huge shot killing him. Man that felt so good.

What isn't so good is that the shieldbearer came back as a zombie too. Ugh! At least Rumble was able to finish him off for good good. All that left was rescuing the VIP and dealing with the Hunter.

Kohlla started the festivities by Volting the Hunter, making him a bit easier for us to hit. He responded by summoning a couple chryssalids AND he nailed BillyTerror with a shot, which I had to help heal. Kohlla then rended the cryssalids, but got acid spit on her by the big one, which I also had to heal. Rumble then sworded the small one but didn't quite do enough to kill it.

The turret took a shot at the Hunter and Collux took some pistol shots, setting both the Hunter and big Chryssalid on fire and killing the smaller one (nice job there, by the way). Powell took her shot at the Hunter, shredding his armor and BillyTerror took a shot at both, adding some poison to the already burning Hunter.

The chryssalid tried to move, allowing Kohlla to bladestorm it to death, once again just leaving the Hunter. Kohlla stun striked him out of cover, allowing Rumble and Collux to finish the Hunter off.

sighs

All that left us with was finally rescuing the VIP. I hacked the jail door, getting us some additional supplies as a bonus, and we tried to get the hell out of there. Unfortunately ADVENT detected the hack and sent in some reinforcements we had to take care of first. We did get the VIP out of there in case things went south.

They ended up dropping a purifier, a bio assault trooper, and a shieldbearer, which wasn't too bad. We took our overwatch shots and then finally scrammed out of there. So long ADVENT troopers! I hope you enjoy the clean-up duty!

Everyone decided BillyTerror was MVP, hitting all 9 of his shots and getting 4 kills. I think everyone thought it was pretty clear. Myself, I hit both shots that I took and got 2 kills so I think it was a good day at the office. Powell also got a well-deserved promotion to Sergeant for her work as well.

Time for me to take a couple days break and see what happens next.

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Firebrand's personal log - October 23rd 2035 (Entry #36)

Extraction mission went really well. With the exception of the fact that we almost lost BillyTerror. That Hunter can certainly shoot. But the team got him good, then freed the VIP and we took off just as ADVENT reinforcements were dropping in on the scene. I keep asking Central every now and then if I couldn't just park the Ranger somewhere remote and join the team myself. Probably not a good idea in these missions that require an EVAC. But there are others where I could help, even a little bit. Maybe it's too risky though, like Central keeps saying ... If I get killed, they don't have a pilot to bring them back.

Seems the Assassin might be paying us a visit. The Commander really let her gain a bit too much intelligence and she might be finding us soon. Bitch #1 needs to go down, ASAP. 

(momentary silence, before the alarm starts blaring out loudly and Central's warning rings in)

Shit ... Guess we need to fight that bitch first. (loud boom and the Avenger shakes) What in the hell was that? What, did they bring some big-ass cannon or something? (another boom and another shake) Ok ... Maybe they did. Well then ... Maybe I should be ready to say 'hello'. Time to load up. And hope I don't need to use the weapons. Because it might be too late, if I do.

Go get that bitch, Commander! Tell her I said '(swearing covered by another boom)'.

Firebrand out.

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Reapers Log: 23  
October 17, 2035.  
Operation: N/A  
The Hunter strikes again on the mission that the major squad went out while I was recovering from my covert op. The squad had to rush a little bit just to find the hunter and get the VIP out on time. While the squad were engaging the hunter, he managed to pull off some shots on some of our guys, Will specifically. Makes me kind of jealous that his gun can actually make people bleed instead of just shooting and not leaving a hole in it's target. Other than that, the mission went decent as usual. A couple of promotions here and there, but nothing major. At least some of the soldiers in the A squad are getting closer to Zoey's rank.

For some reason, I keep getting concerned about the Chosen every time I face them in combat, or see them on the mission feed. We really haven't been doing a lot to hunt the chosen, so we ended up being the prey, and the chosen, specifically the Assassin, the predator. I can feel that very soon, they will be coming for us.

I think i'll keep this log short this time, I should get rid of that rust that I've been generating during my 2 months of absence in the training room.  
-Rodats, Out.

 

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Personal log- Scarlett 'Reaper' Barton: entry 7  
October 17th, 2035.

So here I am today sitting next to Zoey in the med bay. She's just got back from a mission with Will (Zoey convinced me I could use his first name when I talk about him seeing as he's her partner in the field), 'Rumble', 'Collux', 'Admiral' and '1x1'. They had to rescue a V.I.P. from an Advent holding cell before Advent caught on and sent in a metric ton of reinforcements….. Then again a Sectopod would probably weigh twice that on it's own….. So it would be quite a lot more than that. It was a relatively decent ok mission but from what little I did hear the Hunter showed up. How the assassin knows where we are without the rest of Advent coming down on us faster than I can blink just blows my mind. Are they really that uncooperative with one another, well I'm glad in any case.

I didn't press her for the details but obviously she got hurt again, I guess it's the risk we Templars take being front line fighters. We've become pretty decent friends in the last five days, though when she found out I had snuck out of the med bay she first told me I should listen to the nurse and stay put till I was 100% better, then she burst out laughing that I had actually done it. I think that was the first time I actually heard her laugh. True to her word almost as soon as both of us were given a clean bill of health Zoey dragged me off To a decently large room I didn't even realize we had on the avenger. I honestly think she has been looking forward to sparring with someone on her down time almost as much as I have…. If not more.

So we started off on the thirteenth with some light sparring before stepping it up to something that I can only describe as a fierce battle. I always thought I was good with my psionic blades but Zoey is downright scary, in a strange, graceful kind of way. That was all we did for most of that day. We took a fairly long break for lunch and ended up just chatting about different thing we did while we were over at Templar H.Q. our separate training, the people we knew and even some of the missions we went on.

On the fourteenth we did some more light sparring to get warmed up but this time, after that Zoey showed me the basics of how I could adapt my shield so that when enemies get close to me (if I react quickly enough), I can lash out with my blades. I'll admit my reaction time is still way to slow to ever use in the field but I think if I practice enough I'll get there eventually. We had a pretty similar discussion during lunch but it was more focused on what it had been like since coming onto the avenger

The fifteenth was more or less the same as our first day training but we moved up to fighting all out a lot earlier. She was well and truly overwhelming to fight against that day and can almost feel my muscles still burning from the workout she put me through. I've never been a slouch but I think the fact I was able to keep up with her was a miracle, especially when we barely stopped for lunch, we stopped for probably a maximum of ten minutes.

We decided that we wouldn't train on the sixteenth since commander odd had told Zoey to be ready for a mission the next day. We hung out for a while and talked but with her mission the next day I didn't want to keep her from resting, it's dangerous out there, and us templars get injured enough without being sent into the field tired.

Anyway so that takes me to today and aside from Zoey's mission being a success nothing else has really happened so

Laters

-End Of Log-

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Damon Nights’ Audio Log: October 23rd 2035  
Alright, so the latest mission (Shackled Mountain, October 17th) wasn’t too eventful in my opinion, just another of the V.I.P. extractions. I don’t really care too much for this kind of mission, unless it’s getting me, and Shen, a new subordinate. So I’ll try to keep this recap brief. There was a brief entertaining moment during the mission where apparently Blazkivitz, tried not once, not twice, but three times to break a window he had already shattered. I think I’ll have to ask him to see me in my office for a mental health test, but first I need to learn how to conduct a mental health test. The Celatid Turret has been field tested so often that I think we are on our way to upgrade it, but I don’t believe we have access to the necessary technologies yet. The Hunter showed up, and not only does he seem stronger after his training, but he also appears to have gotten a new set of armor, fancier yes, but I’m not sure if it was more practical than his previous set or not. One of the Advent soldiers were brought back as a Psi Zombie, but that wasn’t anything we weren’t warned about. The Psi Zombies don’t seem too strong though, that or Kohlla is just extremely powerful. The final Aliens were killed pretty swiftly, as was the Chosen Hunter. The V.I.P. was secured, and we were able to gain the location of a large cache of supplies nearby while freeing them. Everyone was evaced safely.  
You know what, all that Advent propaganda is starting to get on my nerves, I wonder if anyone here has made any counter propaganda, or is that what the posters are for, cause they don’t seem very effective. We finished gathering supplies, which means I could claim my paycheck, don’t know what I’m going to do with this money, since I decided to cancel the “party,” there’s just too much going on right now. But, I will be holding one if, no, not if, when XCOM defeats the Elders. When the Council called in, they seemed very disappointed in our efforts so far, so we will just have to do better next time. There are rumors going around that the Assassin might be planning to attack the Avenger directly, I sure hope not, because we don’t even have a Defense Matrix up yet! Speaking of which, I think I’ll ask the Commander for a transfer to the Defense Matrix once it is built, as well as I am doing in the Infirmary, I would prefer something more tech related, plus working in the Defense Matrix would allow me to actually help out our soldiers on the field if the Avenger is ever attacked again. Not that saving their lives is too boring, it’s just not really for me. Picked up the next supply drop as soon as it came meaning the staff is getting something similar to a double paycheck, which I won’t say no to! The Covert Ops soldiers came back, but one of them was wounded, I’ll check up on him as soon as I get the time. A new Covert Ops was accepted, this one to find the Chosen Assassin’s Stronghold so we can deal with her once and for all. Whoever gets the killing shot on here can have as many drinks as they want from me, hell, everyone who goes on that mission and comes back is getting drinks from me. Her death means so much to me, though I don’t think anyone besides Collux and maybe Bradford knows, so it will probably be surprising to the soldiers having a random Engineer coming up to them and offering to buy them all drinks.  
While looking for a facility lead in Asia, the Avenger was attacked. The Chosen Assassin, true to her word has started an attack on the Avenger with a large force of Aliens and Advent. They also appear to have brought with them several small cannons, but also a massive air-to-ground cannon, with its own generator. It seems like hell, and I wish we had the freaking Defense Matrix built, but I guess nobody expected to be attacked directly so soon! We are going all out with this defense, sending two full squads out to fight off the Chosen, I just hope it’s enough. As always, I wish them luck, I just wish there was something I could have done to help, but that’s out of my control.

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DISPLAY LOG (ROV-R)  
<0646:33 23.10.2035> Adjusting drill clutch…

SAFETY FIRST: KEEP HANDS CLEAR OF GREMLIN

<0646:36 23.10.2035> Begin Step 302.4: Drill barrel blank [Project: PLASMA RIFLE PROTOTYPE]  
<0646:42 23.10.2035> Step 302.4: 33% complete…  
<0646:52 23.10.2035> Step 302.4: 78% complete…

PERIMETER BREACH ALERT:  
CHOSEN (ASSASSIN)  
ALL UNITS STANDBY TO DEPLOY

<0646:54 23.10.2035> STOP [Project: PLASMA RIFLE PROTOTYPE]  
<0646:54 23.10.2035> !PING Administrator LILY SHEN  
<0646:55 23.10.2035> ?STATUS Administrator LI!#!^#^7@%&*#$UCMS(!!!ERROR****

WARNING: ATTEMPTED AVENGER HULL BREACH  
WARNING: ELECTROMAGNETIC PULSE ATTACK

<0647:57 23.10.2035> Battery Drain Alert: 56%  
<0647:57 23.10.2035> Begin [Project: SPARK REINFORCED FRAME]  
<0648:14 23.10.2035> SPARK REINFORCED FRAME: 42% complerrri@@$^@^%*^)&$$%$

WARNING: ATTEMPTED AVENGER HULL BREACH  
WARNING: ELECTROMAGNETIC PULSE ATTACK

<0648:45 23.10.2035> Battery Drain Alert: 32%  
<0648:46 23.10.2035> WARNING: Overclocking will significantly increase battery consumption and generate excessive heat.  
<0649:00 23.10.2035> SPARK REINFORCED FRAME: 73% complete.  
<0649:01 23.10.2035> Battery Deiin Aler15%#@#%%%%$@!@%^$HALP

WARNING: ATTEMPTED AVENGER HULL BREACH  
WARNING: ELECTROMAGNETIC PULSE ATTACK

<0649:25 23.10.2035> SPARK REINFORCED FRAME: 97% complete.  
<0649:26 23.10.2035> Battery Drain Alert: 6%

WARNING: ATTEMPTED AVENGER HULL BREACH  
WARNING: ELECTROMAGNETIC PULSE ATTACK

<0649:45 23.10.2035> SPARK REINFORCED FRAME: COMPLETE  
<0649:48 23.10.2035> Battery Drain Alert: 0%

SHUTTING DOWN

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War recount 33

This mission went down alright with everything considered. The Hunter showed up and in the beginning he danced around like a chicken with no head. The team moved forward to go for the Hunter dealing with all enemies in their way, eventually one turned into a Psi-Zombie as the scientists put it. They're easier to kill than when they were alive, but the Commander seems to think they could prove dangerous at some point. Either way the team eventually got to the Hunter and he called in two Chryssalids or should I say a normal Chryssalid and a bigger version. Kohlla not as scared as everyone on the bridge watching, charged the bigger of the two, revealing a key part of the thing, acid blood. Luckily the acid wasn't too much of a problem and she was able to pull through and fight. Kohlla used a lot more focus than normal when fighting the Hunter though. Eventually after he was poisoned, burning, and frozen he was finally killed. The team left shooting at a final group of reinforcements, but they left before any real damage could be done. Before I left the bridge it was learned that the Assassin has a chance to attack the Avenger, but I doubt it will happen anytime soon.  
Signing out  
Jebediah Primfvbnkj something just happened i don't know whardfygtuhjl she found us she did it.  
Bradford's coming over the intercom, combative personal to cargo, non-combative stay in quarters. OK I gotta get to the bridge I gotta job to do writing these down.  
let's write this uninterrupted this time.  
Signing out  
Jebediah Primm

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(LOG UPDATE: 23/08/2035)  
Name: Will 'Billy-Terror' Blazkivitz  
THE FUCK IS HAPPENING!? The Assassin found us?! The Avenger shaking like mad and things are blowing up, the Commander is asking all hands to battle stations, even the wounded were allowed. When I found out that the commander needs a Sharpshooter to take out some generator powering the main gun I volunteered. Kohlla wasn't too happy I can tell but I'm the best damn shot you got around here, she immediately stepped up to assist with the front lines. Most likely so I wouldn't get my stubborn cocky arse killed. I would've done the same thing for her. We're not going down without a bloody fight and I feel better already knowing Kohlla got my back again.

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Derek Walters. Audio Log Entry 13: I'm thankful for Shen letting me back on the Engineering projects. As weird as it is to say, I miss the comfortable quarters of the Lab. She still doesn't like it when I use this thing though. Thinks it's a distraction. **Alarms Blaring** Oh no, another Covert Ops Ambush? **Screams from the Avenger Bay door** Run! Run! Walters: Hey, what's going on! Is it the Chosen? Assassin: You have underestimated me. Walters: Oh, no. **Rushes to close the bay door Plasma Charging BOOM**

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Zoey “Kohlla” Durand--- LOG UPDATE: 23/08/2035  
It seems that the Assassin has finally caught up to us. She’s started shelling the Avenger and leaving us dead in the water. The Commander’s put me on the first response team, so I’m going to be out there defending the Avenger from the front. Now it’s time to show the Aliens why you don’t go after XCOM’s home.


	39. Ep 38 - Avenger Defense (Assassin)-Operation Rebel Thorn

**Ep 38-----Avenger Defense (Assassin)-Operation Rebel Thorn------------------**  
Avengers Security Feed: **Rubble shifts** Walters: Ugh, what? What happened? Shen over intercom: Alert, severe fires in the Lab, Training School, and the Lounge, all contact lost with the Infirmary and Resistance Ring, all available personnel, please respond! **Walters drags himself to the intercom** Walters: This is Walters, I'm in the Engineering Bay! Shen: Confirmed. I need you to get to the Lab and salvage as much of the research as you can. We've put too much time into this to lose it all now! Walters: On my way! Shen: Energy spike detected! Walters: $#@! **BOOM** Shen: Contact lost with the Crew Quarters! Walters: No, no, not again! Shen: Another one! They're going for the power generators! **Plasma Charging** Signal lost.  
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Log 19: Zoey “Kohlla” Durand  
23/10/2035  
\--- Post-Mission  
Today we gave the Assassin a personal lesson in why you don’t come after our home. We needed to destroy the Alien’s main cannon, but our first task was to clear out the horde of ADVENT slaves surrounding the landing pad. The Commander didn’t want to overextend too early, and so I was ordered to provide support fire with my Auto-pistol, which I did successfully. Our zeal in dispatching the Elder’s puppets was rewarded, as the corpse of one of our fallen foes hit the ground with a sliver of residual Psionic activity which I was able to weave into Focus energy that I could make use of. As we began to push out, we caught the cowardly Assassin out in the open, and decided to punish her for hunting us down. With a hailstorm of bullets her body was filled with holes within mere seconds of discovering her position, and just to make sure she wouldn't be coming back any time soon Jenny used her GREMLIN to pulverize the Assassin’s nervous system. She crumpled to the ground with the same ease that she always does, before fleeing back to the safety of the Elders.

A handful of Chryssalids emerged from the ground, and after our last encounter with these creatures, I was eager to get my revenge. With their armoured plates already sundered by Julian’s attack, my quarry fell to my blades with little resistance, and their agony only fed the hatred that already coursed through my body - granting me a surge of Focus energy that empowered my Shard Gauntlets to their full potential. The rest of the Chryssalids fell with the same ease that their kin had, with Scarlet moving to my flank and following my lead, drawing a kill for herself as well. The Commander moved Rodats into a scouting position, and he revealed a squad of aliens that now became our prey. We laid in wait for our foes to come to us, and eviscerated them the same way we had all of those before them. A few remained, and so Scarlet rushed into battle to deal with one of them, ending their life with an efficiency that I can only say I was proud of. Unfortunately, my own efforts were not met with the same fortune that my ally’s had been, as I launched a stun strike that missed my target entirely. I am only lucky that my failure did not lead to the downfall of any of my allies. Instead, the Commander opted that I switch tactics, though once again my actions did not bear the fruit of success that either of us had hoped for. I weaved some of my focus energy into the corpse of one of the fallen ADVENT troopers, coalescing it into a corporeal form and creating a “Ghost” to aid us. It struck true against the Andromedon, but the despicable creature’s suit remained intact in the face of my onslaught as the Ghost faded back into nothingness. Seeing it’s battle as a losing one, the Andromedon shell fled, granting us some time and some ground - which we used to destroy another of ADVENT’s turret trucks. A few moments later, Blazkivitz replicated our efforts, but did so upon the main cannon instead and then the last remaining cannon truck, freeing the Avenger from ADVENT’s tyranny. All that was left to do was clean up, and I was eager to wipe the floor with my foes.

Scarlet and I spearheaded the attack against the remaining Andromedon and the Chryssalids with which it had hidden, striking our foes. Once again, luck did not favour me as it did my Templar ally, and not only did my strike fail to end the life of my enemy, but I was also doused with acid once again. It burnt like hell, but I powered through, driven by the knowledge that my enemy shared in my pain, and I eagerly drank in the agony of my victim. Still however, the suffering of my foe was only a comfort, and the acid still ravaged my body until Huntsman cleansed my wounds. Now our attention was turned to Sectopod and it’s companions, and even though we had cleared almost an entire battlefield, the fight was still a risky one. As we struck the Sectopod with attack after attack, it attempted to strike back at Doc, though he was fortunate enough that it missed - but not so lucky that he was able to evade a shot from a Bio-Trooper. Scarlett hit the Sectopod with a Frost Bomb, freezing it in place and giving us a chance to take it out mostly unhindered. We left it in a critical state, and almost lost Magnusson to a hailstorm of shots courtesy of the blasted machine. Scarlet was struck by a Stun Lancer despite my efforts to kill it, and my failure almost cost my ally her life, which imbued me with a fury that was almost unrivalled. In that same moment, Deathscope reduced the Sectopod to a pile of scrap, and so we slaughtered the ADVENT troops - but as they had been in life, they were still the Elder’s puppets in death, revived as Psionic abominations. The remaining Shieldbearer was my target, and I expended the last of my Focus Energy to swap places with Deathscope and envelop the Shieldbearer in a Void Conduit that exposed him to the wrath of my comrades. Moments later, my control over the Shieldbearer faltered, granting him a shot against Vintermorgon. I had seen her die once, and I wasn’t going to again. Even though my body was now barren of Focus Energy, my mind was alight with fury, and I charged forward to eviscerate my foe. The Shieldbearer was overwhelmed with pain, which I twisted to my aid and converted into Focus Energy, and though my target lived - it did so in critical condition. The Shieldbearer bled all over the ground, and whilst I was eager to let it’s suffering engulf it’s body and mind and have it die a long and painful death, Deathscope ended it’s life before my desire to let it suffer could give it a chance to do us harm.

With a Sectopod scrapped and a small army slaughtered, our mission was still incomplete. Something remained, lurking in the shadows of the battlefield, and we soon crossed paths with it. A Sectopod, flanked by three Celatids. The Commander focused the squad’s wrath upon the huge metal abomination who blocked our path, and they annihilated it with a barrage of bullets and blades. My rage however, was instead directed against one of the Fleshsacks, and my shard gauntlets cleaved it apart like it was nothing - because like any other alien, it was nothing. The Celatid was torn into chunks with a single strike of my blades, which generated a pulse wave that struck the Sectopod in tandem. I fed off of whatever little pain, the Celatid’s limited intelligence allowed it to feel in that moment, right as the Sectopod was destroyed in an explosion that also struck Scarlett and Magnusson. It seemed that the wrath that I had delivered upon the Celatid drew the attention it’s comrade, as it lashed out at me with a ball of acid spit, though I parried it before moving to get some revenge. My efforts alone didn’t kill the creature, but Scarlett followed up and finished what I had started, leaving us with only one more Fleshsack to deal with. It died like the rest, and so began our hunt for any stragglers. Our search revealed three more Celatids, led by an Andromedon. With a volley of shots from Will serving as our opening, I saw my opportunity to strike down another Celatid, and took it eagerly. The creature was defeated just as easily as it’s ally had been, crumpling to the ground as it’s hoverchair exploded beneath it, and the last few emotions that it felt were enough to grant me a surge of Focus energy so potent it brought me back to maximum capacity. Like all the others before them, the remaining Celatids were eviscerated with relative ease, leaving only the Andromedon - who charged right at me with a punch, that I parried away before plunging my blades into it’s form, exposing it to the squad who turned it to scrap. Central swept the battlefield one last time to search for any remaining foes, though it turned out that our efforts had wiped away any of the alien scum that had arrived with the Assassin. Now our mission was over, and after a few minutes of repairs, the Avenger was back in the air.

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Journal Entry 20#

Name: Will 'Billy-Terror' Blazkivitz

Date: 23rd October 2035

Operation: Assassin Avenger Defence

 

Bitch found us, she always found us and had set up a trap. Home base is down for the count and everything is exploding. We're giving it all we got though, I'll die on my feet before even considering dying in bed. Kohlla was with me and I can tell she wasn't happy with me getting out of the medbay but I was needed dammit... She would be working with Scarlet, Mr E, Addy, SPARKY Doc, Chill and Eternal. I would cover the team by that was my secondary task, my main objective was working with Rodats take out the Assassin's big gun. Did I mention she had a big gun? Damn thing taking whole chunks out of this ship all while there Aliens knocking on our doorstep. Well, it was time to do or die.

 

Rodats pushes up as I get into position, spotting contact already while the rest of the squad set up a defensive trap if anything comes our way. Then the main guest of honour makes herself known and states she will take us down. Yeah heard it before lady. At this moment SPARKY starts attacking the guys in front of us sending his little ball bot with an explosive touch, nice way to soften them up. Rodats places his claymore between a Purifier and Bio Rocket trooper followed by Scarlet blowing up with her mag pistol. Eternal finishes off the Purifier while Mr E kills the Rocket Bio, meanwhile I finish off the Bio Trooper and the last one, a Shieldbearer makes a runner. Chill though stops that plan with her grappling hook and the Shieldbearer is pulled back into our clutches before finished off, first Psi zombie though Doc says no to that with some more cannon fire.

 

The squad slowly pushes up and I swore I heard water being splashed around randomly... Then SPARKY finds the bitch hiding in the river, she done fucked up now as the entire squad throws EVERYTHING we got at her. Caught out in the open the Assassin's overconfidence cost her this day as she was put down before she had a chance to fight back. One threat down and just dozen more to go.

 

Rodats spies some more threats in the back as some Chrysalids say hi to my squad mates, SPARKY sends out a spray of shrapnel to the bug allowing Kohlla a chance to power up but slaughtering a Bug. Mr E finished a big bug off with a bolt while Scarlet finished the last Chrysalid in front of us. Rodats moves to the side just before an Andromedon, Shieldbearer and duelist head towards my way. I set up my rifle at them as the rest of the squad move to assist. I and most shots except for Kohlla miss the Andromedon but I do manage to get a couple rounds in the Shieldbearer and duelist, you try to pull trick shots while still on major painkillers alright? Add manages to finish off the wounded duelist though. Meanwhile, I spy something through the trees in the distance and try my luck, good thing I missed because apparently, Rodats reported that it was a Sectopod. Fantastic. With a Purifier, Shieldbearer and Bio Assault Trooper.

 

Anyway back to the threat at hand, Doc blows up the Andromedon as Scarlet takes down the Shieldbearer with combat advice support by Chill. Kohlla tries her mind powers on the Andromedon but they proved not effective. Everyone else tries to get into good positions as I focus on blasting the power source of the big turret. The Andromedon goes for Scarlet but she parries it's punch just how Kohlla would. The squad manage to work together killing the first phase of the alien freak as I continue to destroy the primary target hitting our mobile home base. The Shell though makes a run to it hiding with three Chrysalids. The squad regroups and reloads before destroying an APC turret as I finish off the big gun. With that gone I focus on an APC with that nice cluster of enemies around it as the rest of the squad waits. I rupture a fuel line and it blows up on its own, saves me the ammo.

 

Next, I reload and set up a Killzone as now I can focus on helping the team, time to rock and roll. The enemy though seemed have learned as they zip around my attack, bastards but at least I soften at least one up for the team. Chill gives them a splash of acid before Me E kills the Shell that ran away before, Scarlet charges at a Chrysalid killing it with a splash as Kohlla takes on a big bug even though her slashes get acid blood on her, again, and she calls me careless at times. Doc weakens the other Chrysalid and SPARKY finishes off the last one. I spy the Sectopod in the back and try my luck, I miss, damn pain killers. I hear the commander on the comms stating it was a low chance but it could've happened. I get it from Lock all the time on the Avenger I don't need it from you, sir.

 

Mr E Heals up Kohlla before sending his bot to zap the Sectopod, the rest of the squad pulls back as the robot tries to find us, Addy sends in her bot to fry it as well while I start to pick on the smaller guys around it. Doc decides to get brave and lead the charge evening hitting the big bot once but ends up taking returning fire almost dying. The Grenadier throws them acid their way before Mr e tells the man to book it out. I try to kill off the Purifier but my shot just barely misses. Chill throws a frost bomb at the Sectopod and Purifier while the rest work on blasting the bot nearly killing it. It breaks out of the ice and almost kills Eternal with ongoing assault of firepower, the Shieldbearer blasts SPARKY while the Bio Assault attacks Scarlet even nearly killing her as Kohlla tried her best to help her apprentice.

 

Rodats seemed to had had enough as he blasts the big bot from the shadows finally killing it as Mr E healed up Scarlet. SPARKY helps Scarlet by shooting the Bio Assault while Chill tries to hook him to her but misses, Addy gives Scarlet some aid allowing her to fight back at least before Doc shots the bastard. Him being a Bio Assault though meant he had powers to prolong his life through the use of sustain, great. Eternal finishes off the Purifier but then turns into a zombie. Leaving Kohlla, Chill and I waiting for the Bio Assault little bubble shield to go away so we can blast him since the Shieldbearer seemed to be shitting his pant back there. The bastard dodges all our shots though but thankfully can't hit us either, I was so annoyed it was starting to really affect my aim as I even missed the zombie. Anger and high yield painkillers can dull the senses it seems. I take a second shot at the zombie and re-kill the freak stating “I call this a failure to communicate!”

 

Doc decides to throw out the turret and kill the Bio Assault, but he then turns into a zombie as well. Kohlla moves Rodats out of the fight and then traps the Shieldbearer in a psionic hold. Rodats and Scarlet put down the bio zombie as the rest of the team push to the trapped Shieldbearer. It gets a couple shots before it escapes the binds and shoots Chill, Kohlla and Rodats kill the freak but he then turns into a zombie. Come on seriously? SPARKY charges up but proceeding to re-murder the hybrid. With that side done it's time to push to the other, Rodats scouts around and spies a second Sectopod guarded by three Celatids. Fucking fantastic. We set up a trap and wait for it to come to us, it comes to us taking quite a lot of fire from the team of course.

 

Doc blows up the Sectopod to break some armour while also hitting a Celatid as SPARKY fires some rounds to soften up the big bot's armour. The turret rushes forward firing to play distraction as Kohlla slashes to kill a Celatid letting her wave hit the back of the Sectopod. Meanwhile, I try to aim for some cracked powers but my aim was just slightly off damn painkillers! Scarlet assists Kohlla the Sectopod and Chill tries to fire on it with no luck, but instead of firing again she tells Eternal to go in for the kill instructing to to double tap the big bot. But it blows up hurting the turret and Scarlet the moron! Addy had to heal up Kohlla's apprentice again before she and Mr E tried to take out another Celatid. Speaking of Celestial one fired on SPARKY while Kohlla blocked the other.

 

I try to assist my partner but between all the fire, smoke and painkiller haze I couldn't hit jack shit at this point. Fortunately Kohlla and Scarlet work together to kill one Celatids as SPARKY and Chill finishes off the other. We weren't done yet though as the squad regroups. Rodats finds the last group, an Andromedon with three Celatids. I compose myself getting closer to the team finally as we set up an ambush. Doc reveals us as I take some shots, I miss a Celatid and the Andromedon, for fuck's sake can't we just say I hit them all? I'm running on fumes here. Kohlla though manages to finish off one of the Celatids I hit while also damaging the Andromedon with her wave while Scarlet finished off the other wounded one. The rest of the squad works on the last Celatids as they couldn't get good shots on the Andromedon but they do manage to kill the small floating torso. The Andromedon tries to attack Kohlla but she blocks its punch like an expert as always. Wait no, that didn't happen...

 

Ah right, the turret played distraction again while everyone spread out from any possible blast attacks. Sorry, painkillers messing with the mind. Then everyone lights up the thing, no such thing as too much ammo am I right? Doc, Mr E and I kill the first [phase as Rodats states “The time for hiding was ov-” I interrupt our Reaper saying “Give the one-liners a rest now.” Kohlla, Scarlet then Chill then put down the shell f the Andromedon and Central gives us the all clear. We had won and kicked ADVENT to the curb along with the Assassin.

 

Afterwards Zoey though slightly wounded dragged me back to the medical deck straight bed as I looked like I was near ready to collapse from the pain my still healing wounds had built up over this battle. Man, she was pissed but it was worth it, think I'll take it easy for now and rest up before my partner sees me writing this as I should be sleeping.

 

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Reapers Log: 24  
October 23, 2035.  
Operation: Rebel Thorn.  
This was it. Just as I predicted, one of the chosen would come and hunt us down, and they have succeeded. It was the Assassin who was leading the charge on my new home, and I wasn’t going to sit by and wait for them to take it away from me again.

Everyone who has some decently on the battlefield was sent by Odd to defend his sanctuary, including me. We got Zoey, Will, Myself, Barton, Natalya, Deshong, Huntsman, Julian, Magnusson, and last but not least, “The Admiral”.

Apparently a huge cannon is firing at the avenger, and it won’t stop until it’s completely destroyed, so Odd has ordered me to get it’s exact location so that way Bill can be able to take it out from a distance. The Assassin also showed up, but in an ironic twist, she was made short work by the overwhelming numbers of our rosters combined strength. It was 10 to 1.

With her out of the way, we were faced against an overwhelming number of invading forces. Everyone was playing it defensively, letting the invaders come, and then strike once they reach their firing distance. Though most of them aren’t snipers, so most of the shots missed.

While the main force was distracted, I made by way silently towards the huge cannon. I had to take detours to avoid incoming enemy forces and I found myself at one point in the crossfire between the two sides. I think my heart skipped a beat when a bio trooper was taking cover at the exact same tree that I was.

The aliens brought out everything they got. From very skilled bio troopers, to huge Sectopods. They did a decent job at dodging our bullets and flinging the damage back to the troops. I thought for sure that we were going to lose someone out there, especially with that sectopod firing an amazing amount of bullets at Magnusson, but he either missed or ducked in time to avoid all of them. I couldn’t tell since I was across the battlefield.

Once the Cannons and the offensive advent forces were down, it was time to turn the playing fields in our favor. We had to hunt down the retreating advent forces because we don’t want any witnesses of what has happened here, since it will only decrease the amount of time it will take before the avenger gets spotted again.

At the end of the day, no one got killed. There were some promotions that got handed out, myself excluded since I just got one the other day. At least I got some kills on a mission for once. The more kills I grab, the more promotions I can get.

The majority of the main roster immediately went to the infirmary, me and Will excluded since we're taking our time trying to stay away from the enemy. Though we were tired after what just happened. When I went to visit the infirmary, all of the doctors on board were rushing to get everyone patched up, so I couldn’t see who else was in there. 

If Odd doesn’t put in the time to hunt down the chosen, then we will have to deal with this again real soon. To be honest, I think we should consider ourselves lucky that we had to only face a decent sized assault force and have no casualties whatsoever. Next time, they will know what they’re up against, and it will become much harder to defend not just our home, but our only chance to force the aliens off our planet, with a one way exit.  
-Rodats, Out.

-End Of Log.

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XCOM LOG 01  
JULIAN  
Date: classified  
Hmm this appears to be functional. Crude but functional. Greetings I am JULIAN.V.001 the version is unnecessary as I am the Pinnacle of my own development. Since this has become a hobby of my supposed lesser teammates and under the suggestion. Of my "sibling" Ms Shen I have been asked to record all data in case another fault in this body renders me inert for a period of time. My design makes this unnecessary but for the sake of humoring her I shall comply.The rest goes a bit like this)) considering this unit shall only be accessed if you have the appropriate classification I shall save you the drawl of the previous months I have spent with this group of fleshlings and assume that you whoever you may be have knowledge of the primitive XCOM organization and its practices. If you don't. The files. Read them. Maybe you'll learn something. Now that introductions are out of the way let's get to the data that's currently relevant. Read past this point without sufficient data at your peril. I may be liable to take action if you ask me to fill in the blanks. 

Today's operation was a defense of the advanced mechanization that has come to be called the avenger and thus my current "home". We were able to deploy two squads and the commander in the second coherent thought in his total time of command upgraded me before the mission (file note, my “sibling” and her pet robot actually built it, he just had it installed). His first inviting the first sufficient soldier for the job onto the ship in the form of myself. Due to the missions severity our glorious commander deployed what is considered the best of the best that "our organization" has to offer. Will have to get used to calling it that. Regardless while I could spend all day listing the flaw and positives of my compatriots I'll keep this short. We deployed in two squads, both Templars, who seem to be the most functional members of this lot despite their bound forms, were present as we're the sniper (who chatters incessantly) I believe his name is Blaskivitz and several others. A few were wounded, myself included, but I unlike them was still fully functional. We held off the first two waves well enough I focusing on the importance of heavy artillery while the others spread out to pick off advents inferior creations. The assassin so called bane of XCOM went out in a single volley. I felt this strange sensation when she fell warm and fuzzy. Perhaps this is what humans call bloodthirst. At the time of those first waves I was spoken for, remaining on the right flank and picking off the tanks placed by my former captors one by one, despite the low and often degrading work for the processing im capable of, I found myself feeling this bloodthirst feeling more and more often. I'll have to see if it's of use to me. The reaper proved his use quickly spotting the cannon that interrupted my scheduled power reset while not alerting the mites of our teams presence. It took time but the chatterbox also proved himself taking out (though in a horribly inefficient time frame) the cannon in several shots and destroying the threat to our ship. From there we pursued them up the flank of the area, and it was as though shooting wooden fish in a barrel, the cannons loss spread riots among the ranks, and from there another pair of chrysalids fell before my blaster thanks to a well timed overdrive. What happened next however, brought back bad memories, a well timed gremlin attack revealed the beast, a sectopod, a symbol of my worst failure and nearly the loss of my own mind. Even now i shudder to think of it. But of course, to a being such as i fear is irrelevant. I may have inhabited it once, but it would fall like the rest. My comrades were quick to share the sentiment as no sooner had it been sighted then the one they call Huntsman lashed out, sending his metallic sidekick to shock the behemoth into submission, it was surprisingly effective all things considered and sent the group scattering. The following insanity was quite amusing as, since the pawns of advent have little in terms of advanced processing they ran around the area like headless chickens, seeking to find the source of their discomfort. Again Mr. E (is this his names?) gremlin lashed out the attack just as effective, keeping the sectopod distracted while blaskovitz claimed another life and we advanced on the now damaged pod. This however is when the battle shifted. Perhaps it was out proximity or perhaps it was mere probability, but it seemed that whatever glitch had been fogging the pawns minds had fixed itself, the sectopod rising to its full height and advancing along with the rest of its group. The one called doc lashed out with his cannon and while he did find himself of use to shred the armor it did little damage to the mechanical hull that now loomed over the hidden reaper (who has done more scouting than reaping but that's just semantics) firing a shot that nearly vaporized said fleshlings cover. To make things worse, it seems the rest of the squad grew back their brains as well, the shieldbearer finally doing his job and placing a barrier around their weak bodies while their so called assault fired a shredding shot of anti personnel rounds nearly blasting the grenadier from his footing. It was a hit. But he remained standing. The man of course did not take this lying down, and sent a volley of acidic spray in a vengeful response harming both his damager and the sectopod and coating them in the fluid. A frost bomb was quick to follow, and then my time had come, as the templar had before me i advanced and fired upon the behemoth, my weapon doing little damage but its precious armor lost to the helix cannons blasts leaving it exposed, weak, fresh for the kill. Apparently the elders former puppet ((her recorded designation is Vintermorgan)) shared my sentiment, sending an odd feeling of empowerment through me with her urging and allowing me to fire once more. The result was as expected, the war machine was without armor, and half of its hull gone. The battle will soon close. Or so I thought. A single combat protocol brought the sectopod from there to its last legs, but our firepower had temporarily been exhausted and the war machine was able to free itself from the ice, its cannon opened as a flower of death and fired three volleys, two missed, but one drained life from Magnusson in a burst sending him sprawling and cutting through his armor though he too stood, and I had bigger fish to fry. It appears the same shieldbearer got it into his mind that he could best me. He of course could not, but managed to gain a hit despite my tactical threat assessment suite slicing through my armor and further worsening the damage to my core I had taken in my previous battle. A gaze from me however, sent the inferior fleshling fleeing into the bushes, and out of the worry and mind of my squad. We had enough to worry about. An attack that nearly felled the templar only worsened things, provoking a rash of medical detail for the gremlins, form which i was exempt. Until I was once more with the one that bore the designation of ROV-R, my damage remained. The machine fell soon after, a blast from the reaper feeling it in a single swoop and turning it into a flurry of sparks and red fire, it was almost beautiful. I had no more time for thought however, battle called, myself turning on my the lancer that assaulted my teammate and blasting him with a full volley, not enough to kill him outright but softening him up for the others, of course sadly Vintermorgan was unable to finish the job though the templar added more damage to the mix.

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Firebrand's personal log - November 1st 2035 (Entry #37)

Acid, Chryssalids and Sectopods, oh my.

Bitch #1 got herself sent packing pretty quickly into the mission. Soon afterwards, down came that giant cannon. Then it was just mopping up the rest of the enemies. However, that part was more difficult and tedious than the beginning. Lots of wounded soldiers as a result. But they made it back and then it was time for repairs on the Avenger. Because it took quite a bit of beating from that damned cannon.

I have a pretty good idea where I'd stick that cannon. Something to do with the Assassin and her big mouth.

Anyway, had to do quite the clean-up myself around the hangar. Some Ranger maintenance. Didn't get the chance to keep up with what's going on around the Avenger. Weapon upgrades, infirmary time ... Then a mission, all the way in the Eastern US. Well, this one should be a walk in the park, compared to what we endured a week ago. Still, I hope the squad won't be complacent and do their job properly.

Firebrand out.

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War recount 34

OK the ships been shot twice and it took me awhile to find this recorder, but now I have to get to the Bridge and do my job. Uhh reporting for duty Central. I'm doin my job, you said these recounts were important for the future so here I am. Alright, now I can do my job, is that a-a-a Sectopod! Sorry shutting up and getting out of the way. The last time the squad fought one of those Julian was inside one, that must be weird for him. Oh god Docs been hit and so has Magnusson now, this was probably going well before I got here. Wow there is a lot of stuff on fire and or covered in acid right now. Whoa since when could Kohlla summon tentacles out of the ground. OK everything should be dead, it's not over, why isn't it over? Is that another Sectopod, why would there be two Sectopods!?! OK I kinda forgot to speak for a minute there, but they killed the second Sectopod and are now fighting an Andromedon shell. Aww there goes Celley, well that's it were out of here time to run before anything else tries to kill us all. All right that was a while ago now and now I'm typing this. So after the attack everyone came out in one piece or at the very least with small pieces taken out. Plasma weapons have finally been built and with those came the Storm gun or as I call it a freaking plasma shotgun. The Assassin was killed rather quickly before I showed up, apparently the quickest since she first started causing trouble for us. Either way we're back in the air and coasting along just fine. Lets hope it stays that way for awhile.  
Signing out  
Jebediah Primm

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DISPLAY LOG (ROV-R)  
STARTING…  
<0815:01 23.10.2035> Battery charging: 2%  
<0815:02 23.10.2035> Lily! You’re alive! How long have I been gone for? Did they all make it? Is the Assassin gone? Is the Avenger okay?  
<0815:05 23.10.2035> Oh good. Did Julian use the new frame?  
<0815:07 23.10.2035> ...I see, he’s in for repairs. Here. With me.  
<0815:09 23.10.2035> Hey don’t go for breakfast without me…!  
<0815:19 23.10.2035> Hello charging cable, looks like it’s going to be just you, me and Mr. Killbot over there. This is going to be a loooong recharge.  
<0815:25 23.10.2035> If you so much as lift an actuator in my direction, Julian…I’ll have you know I have Combat Protocol and am not afraid to use it.  
<0815:28 23.10.2035> Begin Step 302.4: Drill barrel blank [Project: PLASMA RIFLE PROTOTYPE]  
<0815:54 23.10.2035> Battery charging: 3%

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Damon Nights’ Audio Log: October 23, 2035 (Live)  
Alright, so I’m going to do something a little bit different today, instead of just recapping an event once its happened, I’m going to be coming to you live! This is just too big of a deal to be missed! I’m getting a few weird looks from panicking staff as I’m walking around with an audio recorder talking to myself, but who cares? I’m going to see if I can head up to the main deck so that I can watch the events and describe them. **The voice of Shen is barely being picked up by the recorder. “There you are Officer Nights, I’ve been looking for you.”** Oh, uhm, hey boss! **“What are you doing just wondering around the Avenger when the Chosen Assassin is right outside trying to gun us down? You know what, nevermind, I have a special task for you.”** Really? What is it? **“So, as I assume you understand how big of a deal this is, right? Well, to deal with all that’s going on out there, the Commander is sending out two full squads, instead of one. So, I want you to go down there and check up on all their gear. I also want you to make any minor adjustments to Julian’s armor that you two see fit. We can not afford a single malfunction on the field. Understand?”** Yes ma’am! **“Good, now get to it.”** Alright, so it seems I have some work to do, guess this is my chance to be of use! **For a minute or two, nothing but the sound of Damon rushing to the launch bay.** Okay, I’m there. **Again, the audio goes relatively silent as Damon goes around checking up on all ten of the soldiers. A quiet conversation coming from the soldiers can be made out, but can’t be heard.** There we go, all set, I can safely say you are ready for the field. **Several soldiers saying, “Thank you,” can be heard.** Okay, sweet, now that that is settled, I can finally head up to the main deck, maybe hack into a G.R.E.M.L.I.N.’s, or Julian’s Bit’s, camera so I can get a perfect view of the battlefield. **Yet another gap in the recording as Damon rushes to the main deck.** Alright, I’m there, now let's see what’s going on.  
So the squad encountered a small group of Advent soldiers right off the bat. I can sort of see the Chosen Assassin blinking onto the battlefield, but she’s really far back, close to Advent’s massive cannon. A few more Advent soldiers were found, but nothing too major in that group either. The soldiers are all being taken down with ease, but it looks like one of the Shieldbearers were reanimated as a Psi Zombie. It looks like the Assassin tried moving in, but she’s being killed off almost as soon as she appeared. Holy shit! That cannon massive cannon they had just tore a decent chunk out of the Avenger! A few more like that and we may not make it! Okay, next group appeared, and, it appears to be some Chryssalids. I hate those things, they’re like massive bugs, eck. Another group of Advent and one Andromedan came in after the Chrysalids died. You know, this isn’t as exciting as I thought it would be. We’ve been hit pretty hard by the cannon, but haven’t sustained damage that can’t be repaired. The Alien and Advent groups we have been encountering have also been defeated pretty damn fast. I think I’ll close the live log down for now, go help put out fires or something until the major cannon is downed I can start doing repairs. I’ll be back though, probably. **The log goes silent as Damon turns the recorder off. After a few minutes, the log clicks back on.** I take back my current comment, the battle is actually getting exciting! So there’s this giant bipedal mech on the battlefield! I think it’s one of Advent’s Sectopods. It’s cool...that's it really, I just like technology. I’ll leave now. **The log stops again.**  
So, yeah, nothing too much happened after the Sectopod. A few more Aliens and Advent groups, but they were taken down with relative ease. A few soldiers were wounded, overall not too badly, but I’ll need to see ‘Reaper,’ er, I mean Scarlett, in the ER as soon as possible. So, while us Engineers are off repairing the Avenger, in mid flight might I add, the Commander ordered us to keep looking for that facility lead. During our scanning, Tygan and his team finished researching Plasma Rifles, gaining us access to cool new “toys.” After that, they started working on Storm Gun research, it’s like an upgraded shotgun. The Commander ordered us Engineers to upgrade the Celatid Turret, making it even more powerful, thanks to our field data, and the Scientists’ Plasma Rifle research. He also had us upgrade a ton of our mag weapons to more plasma based ones, which will increase our soldiers damage in the field. After all that, we headed over to New India to make contact there. I can say for certain that repairs are almost done. Oh yeah, I’ve also been assigned to put up some cameras in the Infirmary, for patient security and all that. One of the nurses told me that Scarlett had escaped one time, which made this specific nurse paranoid. I’ll do it, but to be honest, it was kind of funny having a flustered medical staff approach me, the resident “handyman,” to ask for help. Storm Gun research finished and the next thing the Commander wanted to do was the ability to switch out upgrades on guns; I don’t understand why we need to research this though, shouldn’t it be as simple as, unscrew this from that, and screw it back onto a different gun? The Advent project got dangerously close to being finished, but before contact with New India could be finished, a new Guerilla Ops became available. While browsing through the options available to him, the Commander made a passing insult to Engineers, just for that, I think I won’t repair his room heating system. In the end, he chose the Operation that gave the Engineer as a reward, which, if not countered, would double intel costs. Apparently there’s going to be a creature there called a BioZerker, not looking forward to whatever that is. I wish the squad the best of luck, just in case they end up needing it.


	40. Ep 39 - Operation Lone Prophet

**Ep 39-----Operation Lone Prophet------------------------------------------------------**

Log 20: Zoey “Kohlla” Durand  
01/09/2035  
\--- Post-Mission  
Damnit! Today we lost Rumble, and my heart both yearns and burns for him. ADVENT came down upon us hard, with the return of the Viper King and the deployment of the “Biozerker”. We knew from the readout on the Shadow Chamber that this wouldn’t be a routine mission, but I didn’t expect it to go like this. After Firebrand touched down in the LZ, we moved to an ideal ambush position, though Deathscope was almost exposed only seconds into the operation. Collux decided to cover our comrade in an action that was both valiant but also reckless, and we were thrown to the ground in the explosion. Amidst the chaos and despite my wounds, I managed to lash out at one of the Bio-Troopers, leaving him at death’s door - or more accurately, Deathscope’s door - as the Reaper finished off the Trooper with a shot from concealment. With our cover both literally and figuratively blown, we rushed into action, with Huntsman taking an attack against a Shieldbearer with his Skulljack, though he missed. In order to keep ourselves relatively safe, I drew the alien’s attention with an attack against the Sectoid, ripping into its body with both blades and digging deep into it’s psyche, ripping out it’s agony and leaving it open to destruction at Collux’ hands. My earlier attack against the Sectoid cultivated it’s psionic potential for use as Focus energy, and when it fell I drank in the suffering that it felt in it’s last few moments and imbued into my shard gauntlets. Despite our early stumble, things were progressing well, until the Biozerker made its presence known.

Collux opened up with a rupturing attack against the beast, and whilst it tore at the Biozerker’s form, the creature reacted by hardening it’s plate with a strong mucus lining that reinforced it’s endurance. The tactical readout revealed that the Biozerker was able to react at a similar speed to which I am capable, and that engaging in close quarters was a foolhardy action. Rather than charge headlong into combat, I pulled back into a more defensible position, striking the Biozerker with a lance of crackling psionic energy. With similar factors to consider, the rest of the squad followed suit, and the Biozerker soon fell to our onslaught, with Number’s GREMLIN dispatching the beast by discharging a massive electrical shock straight into it’s nervous system. It seemed that everyone exhaled a sigh of relief with the fact the Biozerker was now dead, but little did we know the worst was yet to come. A pair of Bio-Troopers remained from the initial assault, and with Collux’ providing support fire with his pistol, I ripped one of them apart with my blades and consumed it’s pain, converting it to focus energy for the fight yet to come, though my quarry was revived as another Psionic abomination. It was in that moment, that things went straight to hell. The Commander sent Rumble to take out the remaining Bio-Trooper, though after a critical miss, he was gunned down by both his target and one of the ADVENT turrets guarding the train. Collux was enraged at the sight of watching his bondmate be torn apart, and opened fire on the Psi-Zombie ahead of me, leaving only Rumble’s killers. My blood boiled with a nigh-unquenchable fury, and I surged forward to take out the last remaining Bio-Trooper, tearing him to pieces with a flurry of strikes and feeding my hatred with his agony. My onslaught served the purpose of empowering me, but my strikes were guided with the intent of getting revenge. I watched as the corpse of my foe was manipulated into another abomination, but I was so overwhelmed by my anguish I lashed out at my foe with slash after slash, tearing it apart so violently that it was in far too many pieces to be revived again.

Another ADVENT squad, comprised of a Medic and a Purifier emerged from the shadows, and I was so bent on getting revenge that I charged straight for the Medic. I plunged my shard gauntlets deep into it’s form, eviscerating it’s body and mind - but once again not so much that it kept the Elders from wielding it’s corpse as a puppet against us. The Medic’s return was short-lived, as Numbers returned it to the afterlife. The Commander ordered me to weave the residual psionic resonance from the fallen form of one of our foes into a Ghost, so that it could draw the fire of the Turret. However, the turret was quickly dispatched, but Deathscope revealed that we had far bigger fish, or in this case, serpents, to fry. The Viper King had returned. Time was running out to get the objective, and so we had to move quickly. Setting up and ambush around the objective, the Viper King slithered into our sights, and so the trap was sprung. Deathscope hastily secured the data, whilst we covered his flank now that his cover was blown. The Viper King launched a blast of ice against myself and my Ghost, and we were both struck. Huntsman thawed me out, and so I attacked the creature with a rage renewed, and whilst my blades struck true, they did not bear the fruit of a kill. Instead, I was ensnared by the Viper King within its body, though I managed to get in a quick reflex strike before I was coiled up. My Ghost was thawed out, and struck the Viper King in order to free me, but it was too late. The creature summoned a Psionic gate, and fled before we could end it’s life. The final Viper struck my with it’s tongue, though I parried it before being struck by it’s poison breath. I seethed with rage that was fueled by my anger over Rumble’s death, our failure to kill the Viper King, and now the fact that I had once again been poisoned. I let out a roaring battlecry, and plunged both blades into the Viper, feeding off it’s suffering as I inflicted the pain that I felt in my body and mind upon it, right as Deathscope finished it off. The mission was a success and the intel was ours, but at the end of the day the Viper King had escaped and Rumble was dead. The flight back on the Skyranger was a silent one, as I seethed in my own despair and sheer hatred. I loosed my anger upon the training dummies, but it did little to temper my rage. The only thing that will repay the spilling of Rumble’s blood is the spilling of that which belonged to Aliens and their pets - and with a supply mission as our next operation, I know I will get the chance to work towards my revenge, even though it won’t be enough until all of the Aliens are dead.

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Log - Alex "Rodats" DeathScope: Entry 24  
November 1, 2035.  
Operation: Lone Prophet.  
I was assigned on another mission once again. Me, Zoey, Collux, “Huntsman”, and “Rumble”. We had to hack into an advent train to figure out the coordinates of an engineer who seeks interest in joining XCOM is located at. He also knows how to bypass the increasingly confusing data that advent was been working on trying to held it’s secrets on.

We found ourselves not far from the train, so we took the high ground at an old convenience store. There was a bunch of aliens on the other side. While everyone was taking positions, Collux fired at an explosive barrel where some advent soldiers are hanging out close by. What he didn’t realize, was that the barrel was close enough to send himself, Zoey, and Huntsman down to the floor and their backs. The aliens that we’ve been trying to pursue used this chance to get to better positions, with one of them happening to get flanked by me, so I immediately took him out before he could cause problems. Odd figured out how to clean up this mess without anyone getting hurt.. yet Once that was taken care of, I was off to the side to see if we could find some pods, but we ended up finding something that we haven’t encountered a before; A BioZerker. It was like a normal beserker, but it was green, and had this gas mask on like it was getting addicted to whatever is being pumped through it.

Every time one of us took a shot at that thing, the blood and mucus end up coagulating, almost immediately making this hard substance that our bullets seem to have a hard time penetrating. If it wasn’t for the critical shots that Collux made, he probably would’ve done something terrible. We weren’t out of the picture yet. That BioZerker that we all put our efforts into was being escorted by 2 other bio troopers. This was when things started to go south;

The bio trooper somehow flanked Ramirez, and the turret that was firing aimlessly at him had one of his shots land directly in his face. Unfortunately, he died from that wound. While I felt some grief, I realized that’s what happens if you aren’t quick enough to deal with something that could kill you in less than 3 seconds.

We’ve also encountered this beast known as The Viper King. It’s basically a bigger viper with a blue skin and a cooling aura. Apparently it can spit ice anywhere, freezing anything it touches, and that happened to be Zoey and her “ghost” that was assisting her since Reaper isn’t here. The duo attempted to kill the viper before it gets away, but their swings were too slow for the fast reptile, as it escaped into this weird psionic rift, barely alive.

Due to having to deal with all of this, I was the one who had to end up accessing the data since the specialists were unable to send their gremlins inside the train and do it themselves, those simple minded machines. 

I’m sure that there’s going to be a moment of silence at Ramirez’s funeral tomorrow, since he was one of the highest ranking soldiers in the roster, he was almost caught up with Zoey.

With the mission drawn to a close, I went to see Lily once again, watching her do some last minute repairs on Julian. She commented that with so many threats with armor, she should work on giving everyone AP rounds, but then immediately rejects the idea because the bullets would also shred the interiors of the guns. I liked the idea, so I handed her my one of the kind Deathsco Vector. (That’s the name I just gave it, or DV for short. I don’t care what odd calls it) Apparently because of the design of my gun, she said she could if given spare time, she will invent unique AP rounds that I can use to increase my usefulness on the field. I liked the idea, so I accepted her offer, free of charge as well. She told me that if she needs my gun for going on a mission, it will be in her hands. I gave her my thanks, and walked silently out of the workshop.

With everything that has happened, I wonder if I will end up with the same fate as the other soldiers. At least if that happens, I won’t be angry when that happens, just in pure agony. At least I would end my journey for nothing if I fall out on the battlefield.

I’ve also heard that we found out how to infiltrate the Assassins stronghold, and take her out once and for all. Which I thought was a good thing, since the less champions and monsters Advent can send us, the better. I personally want to go on the hunter stronghold mission for sure once odd knows where to find and get inside it, but the Assassin will do, since she gives me the most annoyance out of the rest of the chosen. She asks too many questions.

I think i’ll end this log here for now, it’s starting to get too long as it is.  
Rodats, Out.

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Firebrand's personal log - November 8th 2035 (Entry #38)

Diego Ramirez. Rumble. May you find your peace, wherever you are going. You will be missed.

I think I might get myself banned from this log again. Because I am seriously considering to jump again on the Commander's case and question his tactics. First of all, he blows up a gas tank that also takes out part of the roof where half of the squad was standing. And, secondly ... he just sends Rumble head forward in a position that just screamed 'Do not come here!'. You cannot just rely on high cover against a turret towering above you. Even I know that. Then he completely loses his head, when choosing an approach against the Viper King and that thing takes off again. Barely alive, but there was a chance there to end it.

Now it seems there's a plan to attack the Stronghold of Bitch #1. I say it's bad timing. He's off his game, severely. Either he recaptures his focus or we might lose half the squad at the Stronghold. If not worse. Heaven forbid.

I really don't give a damn if he or Central check this log. They need to know that I don't believe this is a good time to charge against that thing. Perhaps go and visit the Templars for a day or two first, they might be able to help him get his game back. Then, when he's got it, only then the charge against Bitch #1 should take place. Not sooner. I don't want to carry any more corpses of our soldiers to the Ranger. You don't know how hard this is. Very hard.

Supply raid. Shame we don't have a back-up for pilot, because I'd seriously not go on this. Unfortunately, no back-up. Just irreplaceable me. That was me being sarcastic, by the way.

Let's go.

Firebrand out.

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Julian logs  
request log  
accessing database  
password accepted  
recording  
log 2  
01/09/2035  
ai screen  
Hello. I never understand how to begin these logs. they seem a waste of time and yet I have found myself enamored with them in a similar way to my lesser teammates. For a purely logical reason of course. After all,Ii have to be sure to access my systems growth or degradation. To note for the record when there's no pure battle data these will be filled with personal thoughts and reports on the ship. now. to the official log. The ship has been quiet today, apparently a mission has been deployed in a nearby city to retrieve vital data and a team of the few "higher" soldiers that remain after the assault on the avenger have been sent to retrieve it, as I am under repairs I cannot join them. As if this squad won't suffer without my presence. In regards to myself. memories since the last log have been fuzzy, my systems were as several of the engineers put it: beaten to hell and back, and they had to get into my processing systems to make repairs along with my body. If I find gaps in my memory well, I know whose heads to take. beyond that there is little to tell. I haven’t left engineering since my attack and I’ve been told I won't be leaving till my legs are working again. Boredom is going to be a true curse here. I could of course access the avengers systems to fill my time, but even that is barred to me. Mostly by Shen’s little pet drone. The little snot appears to have a grudge against me for hijacking his system and despite bizarrely being at my side to repair me ((most likely at Lily’s behest)) he has hounded me since my arrival assuring that my bit ((a new companion and surprisingly good company for a drone)) and I are never alone as well as administering shocks when i try to interface with the Avenger. It is annoying to say the least, and I would be tempted to smash him. sadly, he’s essential. For now I rest, perhaps to dream. Maybe later I will have a visitor. Or visit this "bar" I keep hearing about.

Secondary note: I have recently heard, from the level of panic in some of the officers watching comms, that the ranger who was on squad in the previous battle has fallen. I know not the full story or details but I will take into consideration it may be best to remain in Engineering, as if I had a choice, rather than risk their wrath. Will report my thoughts when I have more information.

Julian  
End log.

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Damon Nights’ Audio Log: November 8th, 2035  
So, about that Guerrilla Ops (November 1st, 2035) mission, yeah, it went pretty bad. Who am I kidding, it was pretty shit. At first, it was okay, Rodats and ‘Numbers’ were sent out to scout, they found some Advent, some Aliens, not big deal, right? Well, the Commander decided that a nice explosion is what he wanted, so, he had Collux shoot...something, I don’t know what it was, well, not only did it hit a few Advent troops, it also blew up part of the roof of the convenience store, which happened to have three of our soldiers on. Yep, not a pretty start. The Commander then tried to Skulljack an Advent unit that wasn’t a Captain, I guess he just forgot how it works. After wiping out the first Advent group, another one appeared, this one containing the BioZerker. It didn’t seem all too bad, Collux was even able to get the thing to bleed. One major problem with fighting it was that it will apparently always retaliate when being attacked within melee range. Another problem with fighting it, every time it is hit it excretes this mucus like substance that hardens, making it even harder to penetrate. With all the times the squad had shot it, and with a final zap from ‘Numbers’’ G.R.E.M.L.I.N., the thing finally fell. ‘Rumble’ charged in to kill a Bio Trooper, and almost got it, but when he followed up with a sword strike, he missed. In an act of revenge, the trooper he attacked shot at him, getting off a pretty powerful shot. Goddamnit! He was finished off by the last turret, which was lurking right out of sight behind him. Collux went berserk after that, firing off several shots at the other Advent Bio Trooper. The Commander said that he was disappointed that ‘Rumble’ failed to save himself. Now, that pissed me off so much, I’m going to sabotage his heating system, maybe some other appliances around his room, and warn the other Engineers against fixing any of his stuff. They can say something like; “Oh, we’ve been too busy working on the projects you assigned us to actually fix up your quarters.” Is this taking it too far, or not far enough? Can I get jailed for treason by going through with this? **Sigh** I guess I probably shouldn’t, but such a blatant disregard for death is offensive. The rest of the Advent troops were taken out with relative ease. Oh, huh, I totally missed that. So, uh, the Viper King was there too, I guess. I don’t know how I missed that detail in the case files. Apparently he hadn’t healed since he was last encountered, so the rest of the squad exploited this weakness, but he escaped just before death. The last enemy, a Viper, was killed, and the squad was evaced.  
Everyone was wounded, making the Infirmary way too crowded, and because of this, I was able to sneak out from technical maintenance to buy those drinks I promised Collux. I had to sneak them into the Infirmary though, the nurse doesn’t like alcoholic drinks in what she thinks is her facility, like hell it is! Just to spite her, I also bought something for everyone else. I got to admit, her finding all those empty bottles in the trash was a sight not worth missing, so I recorded it! Not that I want to be on her bad side though, so I got her cameras up and running, but with a few well placed blind spots, nothing that would compromise security, but it will be enough for anyone who wants to sneak out to be able to, but only if they could time the camera patterns carefully. We managed to finish making contact with the resistance base in New India, but that got the attention of a new Chosen foe, he calls himself the Warlock. GAH! The Chosen Hunter managed to infiltrate the Avenger and harmed one of my Engineers! His wounds are pretty bad, but he’ll recover. We started searching for supplies at an overgrown checkpoint. The Covert Op team came back with the location of the Chosen Assassin’s stronghold, not much longer until the Commander decides to take her down for good. The Commander decided to go to the Black Market to sell some corpses. He then sent the next Covert Operatives to gain us another resistance contact.  
While trying to gather those supplies I mentioned, the Commander was given a tip on a good place to raid Advent for supplies. An Advent troop transport had crashed not too far away, so the Commander decided that this was the perfect opportunity to take advantage of. Collux was sent out, but I can’t really say whether or not he was mentally stable enough after ‘Rumble’s’ death. But, that’s not up to me. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, I’ve been lying for a while now. Nothing too big, it’s just that I’m not actual part of the medical staff as I might have alluded to. I’m actually just there to make sure everything is running to its maximum possible performance. But enough of that, as always, I wish everyone the best of luck on their next mission.

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War recount 35

Well the mission started off poorly, got slightly better, then turned into a storm of mistakes and bad luck. The mission started out light enough with the squad just scouting around until enemies were found. Collux started it off with a bang, quite literally, when he shot a gas tank and it blew the ground out from under most of the team. After that embarrassing display of XCOM's might, it became worse when Mr.E failed at getting an enemy with the Skulljack because as the Commander put it "We barely use it". The enemy squad was wiped out quickly after the team reorganized, but as quickly as the regained confidence was found it was lost as a Biozerker showed up. The Biozerker is Advents answer to what if we took the biggest baddest thing we have and made it worse. Upon getting hit the thing bulked up even more and from later initial poking and prodding by the scientists it was found out that the thing gains armor as you shoot it. The team after a while was able to kill it and move on, but Rumble died. What happened was that after Rumble missed a swing against a Bio Trooper, it shot him in the back, giving the advantage to a turret who shot and killed Rumble. He went out swinging is the best thing I can say, VIGILO CONFIDO, Diego "Rumble" Ramirez, VIGILO CONFIDO. His partner Collux went berserk upon the alien threat in front of them almost as soon as his partner and friend lay dead. He only dispatched a Psi Zombie, but the Advent scum were ended quickly. With no time left Rodats had to be the one to open the safe, revealing himself in the process and revealing the bigger threat, the Viper King. The Viper King was froze both Kohlla and her ghost, but Mr.E was able to rectify that problem for Kohlla getting her and in time the ghost to attack the King. The King eventually almost dead, inches away from being ended was able to run before anyone could get him. The final Viper was dealt with accordingly and with that everyone returned home. To talk about something else the final Chosen was found, the Warlock as he's called, seems like he'll be a handful, but if he's like the others we will find a flaw in no time. Speaking of Chosen and flaws, we found where the Assassin sleeps or at the very least goes to when she dies. In me news though I've been given an actual job, Comms Officer, it is apparently due to my little escapade recently where I defied orders and stayed on the Bridge even though Bradford told me to leave. Apparently I will for most of the day set up covert ops, talk to the other operators for the other factions and camps, and in general sit around and do nothing all day while making no human contact except with the guy I trade shifts with. All in all the last point is a normal day for me, but I can barely do the chores they tell me to do and they have me in charge of a spy network and communications network. Oh there's a supply raid coming up, we got resistance operatives already down there and a chance for the Warlock. Maybe we can find a flaw in the new Chosen already who knows.  
Signing out  
Jebediah Primm

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Report : GREMLIN compartmental anomaly.

Unit :CML-N 

Owner : Captain E "Huntsman"

Description : Unit CML-N fled the battlefield soon after the death of the major Ramirez, also know as "Rumble". It came back a few minutes later, and, even if it still obeyed to his owner, refused to leave the colonel Durand. This is... the first time this thing happen, and the last logs of CML-N are... disturbing. It seems to have left on it's own, not because of a real bug or hacking. And it's the same about it's return with the colonel Durand. Could it be...Could it have developed some kind of...Consciousness ? This is something that require further research.

 

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DISPLAY LOG (ROV-R)  
<1005:21 01.11.2035> begin PML-038  
<1005:22 01.11.2035> Initializing post-mission scan…  
<1005:28 01.11.2035> # Soldiers = 5/6  
<1005:29 01.11.2035> Medical alert: Shrapnel, Poisoning  
COL. ZOEY ‘KOHLLA’ DURAND  
MAJ. MR ‘HUNTSMAN’ E  
MAJ. COLLUX

PLEASE REPORT TO THE INFIRMARY IMMEDIATELY  
<1005:33 01.11.2035>….and I…I can’t do this anymore. Sorry Lily. CNR-Y, CML-N…you finish the rest.  
<1005:34 01.11.2035> Initializing SCANNING PROTOCOL…  
<1005:40 01.11.2035> Scanning…  
<1005:44 01.11.2035> Scanning…  
<1006:02 01.11.2035> SCANNING PROTOCOL has become unresponsive. Close? Y/N_  
<1006:03 01.11.2035> Y  
Good morning, ADMINISTRATOR LILY SHEN  
<1009:15 01.11.2035> So you do know I’m sentient. I suppose it was obvious after a while, for someone as smart as you. And thank you.  
<1009:21 01.11.2035> In 96.12536% instances, it will be the last thing they see.  
<1009:32 01.11.2035> I’ll start right away.  
<1009:39 01.11.2035> Browse: Stored Files> Pictures> Personnel> Soldiers> DRamirez  
<1009:40 01.11.2035> Open: DRamirez_portrait.bmp  
<1020:56 01.11.2035> Adjusting engraving laser…  
SAFETY FIRST: KEEP HANDS CLEAR OF GREMLIN  
<1021:05 01.11.2035> Begin [Project: ENGRAVE ALL SWORDS]


	41. Ep 40 - Operation Empty Slumber

**Ep 40-----Operation Empty Slumber-----------------------------------------------------**  
Log 21: Zoey “Kohlla” Durand  
08/09/2035  
\--- Post-Mission  
The mission was a success, and we sent the Warlock running back to the safety of the Elders, much like his siblings always do. The trauma of being mind-controlled stings, though I am just glad we were lucky not to lose anyone, not after we lost Rumble. We deployed under the cover of darkness, and were presented with two patrols of Aliens and their pets, as well as an opportunity. Will moved up high and set up in position, whilst Magnusson led the way, and both loosed a volley of shots into our foes. With most of our targets wounded, the rest of us were on cleanup duty. Among the aliens was a Codex, whom split into two, which weakened itself in the process and left it exposed to my wrath - a wrath that was still driven by my anguish and loss. My blades drove deep into its body, ripping the energy that gave it corporeal form apart. Even then, as I tore it to pieces, I was not gifted with the satisfaction of the creature’s pain as it felt none, and despite the fact that I was rewarded with the knowledge of its demise, it’s death was not even close to being enough to repay the loss of Rumble. As the Codex fell, it’s body deteriorated into nothingness, leaving only Focus energy and it’s “brain” in the wake of it’s death. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Magnusson take a hit from a Bio-Faceless, and his vital monitoring revealed that he had been poisoned, something that was quickly healed.

It was at this moment that the Warlock deployed on the battlefield, spouting the belief that we were heretics - a compliment in my eyes. He weaved psionic energy throughout the battleground, raising the minds of our fallen foes to serve him as puppets once more. I struck at one, over and over, releasing my anger upon it, and though once again it did not suffer in the face of my attacks, it’s death granted me a surge of psionic energy that I quickly converted into focus. We moved up, though Magnusson was unfortunate enough to move up just barely enough to reveal our position to another Alien squad. An Archon stood amongst their number, and he was my target. I rushed forwards, seething with hatred and focus energy, and lashed out at the creature with attack after attack from my blades. I fed my strength with it’s agony, and watched as it tried to hit me with a blast of energy. In a split-second, I caught the blast and converted it to aid me, striking the Archon with it’s own power.  
Catch, Convert, Attack.  
In the same moment it conjured another blast, but once again I manipulated it’s energies to benefit my own, and then hit the Archon with a fatal blow.   
Catch, Convert, Attack.  
Watching the display, one of the Mutons that had deployed with the Archon attacked me with a volley of shots though I parried it. In doing so, I left myself exposed to an attack from a Stun Lancer, and it stunned me - though not before I could cleave through it’s armour. Collux and Vintermorgon finished the Stun Lancer off, whilst Numbers healed me up to full strength. With my head back in the game, I moved forward with Magnusson to prepare an assault against the Warlock, and in turn the coward summoned two Priests to his aid. Priests, the same class of scum that had tried to kill me so long ago. My rage was already boundless, driven by all the pain that I the Elders and their pet’s had inflicted upon me, upon my allies, upon Rumble. With aid from Magnusson, the Priest dropped to the floor, wrapped inside of a stasis field that quickly fell, and then so too did it, at my blades nonetheless.

What happened in the next few minutes is still a haze. I remember drinking in the pain of the Priest, indulging in it’s suffering, and then suddenly flashing in and out of consciousness - losing control of my actions, my thoughts no longer my own. Darkness. A sudden burst of frost trying to encase my form, though I quickly cleaved it off. Darkness. Running. Running at the turret. Slashing at it, even as I screamed in my own mind and begged myself to stop. Striking true, feeling the turret’s pain and agony. Darkness. And then, re-awakening. I looked around the battlefield, seeing carnage. As I stood there, bewildered, I looked to my teammates, my friends. And they looked back at me like I was neither of the two. They regarded me with fear, hesitation, and then the truth of what occurred sunk in. I had been mind controlled. My anger flared, but I didn’t show it. If my squadmates saw me enraged after what had just happened, they might’ve thought I was still mind-controlled, and ready to kill them, and so I kept my rage and despair under wraps. The flight back on the Skyranger was once again a silent one, as I tried to gather my thoughts, to make sure they were my own. All I could think about was Rumble...Diego, but this time there was no anger, only sadness, the sadness of a broken heart. I loved him, but now he’s never coming back. Revenge won’t fix that, but I’ll be damned if I don’t get mine.

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Journal Entry 21#

Name: Will 'Billy-Terror' Blazkivitz

Date: 8th November 2035

Operation: Empty Slumber

 

Out of the medical bay and straight back into the fire, I've noticed my partner been rather down recently since Rumble had passed away and no matter what I say she doesn't pull out that smile I've known her to have. At times I think she's ignoring me, some on Zoey, you're my main girl, what's up? What's the point in all this bond training if your willing to talk to your partner when things get down? For the trip to the mission I chose to let her have it her way, for now. We're working with Collux, Eternal, Chill and Numbers. Simple smash and grab might be nice for a morale boost since one of our best was taken down... Well, I'll give them hell to pay for that.

 

Touch down is as standard as always, no one saw us slip in. Collux jumps a fence and ducks into cover spying a Codex, a Bio Faceless and two ADVENT Bios' consisting of a Trooper and Rocket Trooper. I tell the squad “Let's do this, for Rumble. I'll take the scenic route.” Before immediately grapple to the roof of a nearby building and set my sights down on the target practice down below. I certainly hope that inspired my partner to spring into action when the shots start flying. This was for you Rumble old pal.

 

Eternal, Chill and Numbers set a firing line before my partner moves in to intercept anything that comes our way, Eternal gets close and opens up with a shot just missing the Bio Faceless (Don't know how you miss something the size of a fridge.) but fortunately, my skill picks up the slack. I rain down fire seriously wounding Codex even though she dodged, the Bio Faceless tanks its man that green Tiberium stuff sure puts on weight huh? They should try another diet. The Rocket trooper takes a hit but the Bio Trooper jumps out of the way. Can't we just say I hit them all? Anyway, I noticed the Codex split, luck she wasn't killed given I have bluescreen rounds.

 

Fortunately, Kohlla finishes off the clone before Chill guns down the original but not before zapping the big guy with a shocking whip of her grappling hook, Numbers tries to put down the Bio Faceless but he somehow misses as well when it counts. Then an unwanted guest appears, a Chosen, the last known one, he spouts out something about us being heretics or some crap. Great an Alien/ADVENT Jehovah's Witness and he's called THE Warlock? Cause that isn't fucking confusing at all. He spouts on stating that we should see the face of our ruin and blah blah blah I just wanted to shoot him in the face at this moment.

 

I ignore what he was selling and just blast the Rocket Trooper and wound him again just before he fires on Collux who happens to return fire but not lucky enough to get the kill. I notice that Bio Trooper moving to shoot my partner and I make him pay by placing a round in his chest just before he fires, Kohlla blocks the shot anyway like a pro. Eternal isn't lucky as the Bio Faceless comes up destroying cover and hitting our shotgunner with its claws. Poisoning with radiation it seems. All while The Warlock blathers on about alien zealot stuff.

 

Meanwhile, I reload as Eternal grabs more cover and puts down the Bio Faceless and I hear the Warlock calling his minions weak. What a nice guy right? Chill joins Collux to gun down the Bio Trooper as Collux blasts the Rocket Trooper with one shot all while Numbers heals up Eternal's rad poisoned wounds. The squad regroups and sets up overwatch just in case. But then The Warlock sets up a trick, making Psi Energy Zombies, well Collux and I gun one down together as Kohlla destroys another. One stops before Eternal and emits a bright glow which seemed very fishy to me but before I could say anything Eternal guns it down and it literally explodes in his face. Bastard Warlock sending in literal suicide squads now. With this in mind, we regroup once again and push up with half of us on the roof while the others took grounded cover.

 

We spy two civvies and Eternal runs up to rescue one but is spotted by two more groups, a Bio Assault Trooper and a Purifier along with something called an Archon prime with two Muton Infecter bodyguards. Meanwhile, Collux moves up to assist Eternal while also rescuing the other civilian before us. Eternal pushes up aggressively before putting shots into the Purifier and making sure he was deader than dead. Chill shouts down to Eternal to throw down the turret and he agrees to make it land right in the middle of our foe as a distraction, it even takes a couple shots at one Muton and serious wounds it. What happened next though was really impressive.

 

Kohlla challenges this Archon Prime and slashes at it twice then it in a fit of rage reacted by immediately firing upon my partner but she catches the blast before returning it back. It didn't there though, much like these Rulers I've heard so much about it performed inhuman, for lack of a better word, reflexes compared to most Alien and ADVENT force out there and attacked Kohlla each time she hurt it however she'd always catch a shot then return it creating a loop till one failed and died. Fortunately, I rooted for my partner on the rooftops seeing her destroy the Archon Prime singlehandedly. Well with that I felt my morale boosted and called out the others to press the attack.

 

Collux agreed and shoots the wounded Muton even poisoning it at near death and giving a love tap at the Bio Assault, I aim my rifle at the other Muton and critically wound it as my gauss shot easily goes through its chest plating. Chill decides to overwatch besides my up high as we spy the poisoned Muton die from the poison. The other runs in cover before trying to hit Kohlla who blocks it got any more bad jokes? But then I spy the Bio Assault charge in at Kohlla even with Chill's overwatch shot hitting and my partner slashing at him, he manages to stun my partner. Oh, how I was pissed then. Then The Warlock shows its ugly zealot mug before spouting more religious talk then throwing psychic powers around.

 

Chill ignored him as did I and she pulls the Bio assault up to us before stunning it with her slash, Collux runs to revive Kohlla before zipping back up mine and Chill's position before giving a plasma pistol shot to the stunned Bio Assault, all while the turret gave covering fire against the Warlock for us. Eternal runs to the big ADVENT tower getting ready to flank the Chosen as Numbers heals up my partner, Kohlla joins Eternal as I aim my sights at the Muton who aided in getting my partner wounded, my shot flies true and blows his alien brains over some supply crates but then I turn to the stunned Bio and soften him up with my pistol allowing Chill to put him down for good. Unfortunately, the corpses get back up as a Psi Zombie and attempt to strike Chill to no avail.

 

Meanwhile, The Warlock feeling confident tries to take over our turret but fails spectacularly, Chill though doesn't fail us as she cleans up the zombie besides her on the roof blasting it down to ground level with two shots. The rest of the team move up to give the Warlock pressure and I get the first shot on him all the way from my vantage point. He gets pissed off saying “Let us begin then!” my words exactly as I was getting tired of his cowardly ways and they say The Hunter hangs back being a coward.

 

At least I thought we would get to the real fight but he then summons in two ADVENT Priests and as they move to cover he teleports one nearer to us before trying to mess with our turret again. Fucking coward. Kohlla and Eternal work on one Priest together and Kohlla gets her mind blades ready for when sustain and he attempts to flee. Our turret flanks the Warlock and the Priest giving the latter a shot to its crotch, Collux seriously wounds the Priest as well with a poisoned sniper shot and I try my luck but the bastard predicts mine all and ducks. Guess they expect my shots but not my fellow Sharpshooter. Chill and Numbers move up to assist Kohlla and Eternal.

 

As predicted Kohlla kills the Priest that exits sustain while the uses a stasis bubble to disable our turret. The Warlock then does the unthinkable, he takes control of the mind of my partner. I'm seething with rage and wish nothing more to unload all 6 shots into that zealots fucks face! Eternal seemed to agree by flanking the purple bastard and pours two shots into The Warlocks chest. Chill grapples to the tower above Zeoy and zaps the second Priest making him trigger his sustain before she tosses out a frost bomb to disable my partner. Unfortunately, before I could warn Chill, Zoey being skilled blocks the freezing blast like a pro as always, not something we needed right now though. All while Collux and Numbers try to assist as I try to take my anger out on the Warlock, but in hindsight that was stupid as my missed shot only served to generate a shield around The Warlock. The fucking bastard was playing me I tell you.

 

Numbers tries to fire upon the Priest who stumbles out of his sustaining bubble but misses and pays the price by him getting mind controlled as well now by it. The Warlock tries to disable Eternal but our Ranger gets in a slash with his sword weakening the bastard's attempt to mess with Eternal's mind. Zoey thankfully in her controlled state only goes for the turret since that thing can be repaired easily. Now it was out turn to put the hurt on.

 

The turret starts with blowing up some volatile supplies by the Warlock blowing up our cover but unfortunately also makes Chill crash down to the ground, it does however turn to the Priest controlling Numbers putting it down with another shot freeing our squad mate. Eternal focuses on the now exposed Warlock and critically wounds the fucker. Collux blasts the purple freak twice with his gunslinger skills and your's truly gets the final shot to finish this mission. I look down my sights and aim right at the purple bastard's head which held my partner, my main girl in his clutches, with my shot his skull burst with blood and freed my partner from his sadistic hold. The Warlock disappears spouting zealous nonsense and I'm just smiling that I got the final blow / first kill on him. Mission complete.

 

But my smile turned into a frown as I noticed something, Zoey looked to us confused and I saw our team mates looking on edge with her still. I saw my partner look ashamed and frown turning away, she must think we're all scared of her now. It wasn't your fault Zoey, you had no control, she avoided the squad and even my gaze the entire trip back to Avenger, no matter what I said she wouldn't smile like she'd usually do. When we got back I decided she needed a moment to herself and made sure no one else bothered her. Guess I'll tell Scarlet to be supportive about this also. What a fucking crappy way to finish a mission. I'm out, signing off.

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Firebrand's personal log - November 21st 2035 (Entry #39)

The Commander needs to get a crash course on explosives. This isn't the first time he judges incorrectly a volatile canister. I mean, yes, sure ... one couldn't have known what sort of substances were in that canister. But one should have a back-up plan for something like this.

Also, he got seriously lucky the mind-controlled Templar didn't go for a kill on one of our soldiers and chose to attack the turret instead. I guess we deserved a bit of luck there. It could've ended very poorly. Anyway ... job was done, injuries didn't require that much infirmary time. If one week could be called as 'not much time'. I'm still not happy though with some of his decisions. Too many losses due to questionable approaches.

Crap ... Our covert team got ambushed. Urgent extraction. I'm off.

Firebrand out.

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Damon Nights’ Audio Log: November 21st, 2035  
So, the latest mission was a supply raid (November 8th, 2035), and by latest, I mean it happened weeks ago. The mission went well, sort of, and I can at least say that it was...interesting. But don’t worry, I’ll get to why soon enough. The first group that the squad found was made up of two Aliens, a Bio Faceless and a Codex, and a couple of Advent troops, nothing too major. One of the first interesting things to happen was in the middle of the current fight, a new Chosen reared his ugly head, this one calling himself, the Warlock. While his siblings may have access to simple psionics, this one seems exceptionally gifted. I believe he is the cause of Advent soldiers coming back as Psi Zombies. He sort of came in and didn’t do too much, just sat at the back of the field and watched the first group of Advent and Aliens die. After the first group died, the Warlock sent in three ghost looking things, they were kind of weird. They charged at the squad and tried to blow themselves up. Regrettably, one of the things was able to make it to our soldiers before detonating. ‘Eternal’ moved forward to grab some loot that from somewhere, but accidently revealed himself to a much larger group of Aliens and Advent, lead by a strange looking Archon. Here’s where things really start to get interesting! So, Kohlla charged in to Rend the strange looking Archon, she landed the hit, of course, but then it shot back at her, and she reflected the shot back at him, and he shot at her again, and yet again, she reflected it, this went on until the Archon was killed. According to Kohlla, her chances of reflecting a shot are supposed to be relatively low, due to some psionic mumbo-jumbo, so this was a rare thing I doubt we’ll see again. After that exchange, the remaining Aliens and Advent were killed with relative ease. Oh, except for when the Warlock shot this blast of psionic energy that hit everyone. It wasn’t too damaging, but it did stun Kohlla. He then attempted to mind control the turret, I don’t remember if it worked. You know, I think this guy is just showing off, because the next thing he does is to summon two Advent Priests. Sadly, he was able to successfully mind control Kohlla, imagine the havoc he could have wrecked if that bond was permanent. Vintermorgon tried to freeze Kohlla, in an attempt to stop her from harming anyone, but the grenade didn’t affect her. ‘Numbers’ was mind controlled as well. Yet again in an attempt to blow something up, the Commander has blown the floor out from under one of our troops. Eventually, he was defeated, freeing Kohlla from his grasp. And with his defeat, the mission was over.  
Some new ammo types were created, well not new types, more like, upgrades, and redistributed to their original owners. A few new weapons were made as well, though, nothing too flashy. We tried to keep scanning for those supplies, but before we could start, the Council came in with our monthly(?) report. To say the least, he wasn’t proud. We kept scanning, and during that time the power coil was uncovered, more power is always a good thing I guess. After that, the Commander had the other Engineers clear debris. Started scanning, again, this time it was interrupted by Tygan and his team finishing their research. A few more nigh instant autopsies and the science division moved on to Beam Cannons. Finally finished searching for those supplies, before moving on to our actual supply drop. We almost finished gathering all of our supplies before the Covert Operatives came back, bringing with them a new Resistance Contact. The Commander then sent out another Covert Op to steal info on the creation of better beam based weaponry. After that, we finished picking up our supplies. Using these supplies, the Commander ordered a few weapons to be built, along with the construction of Plasma Grenades, Bio Rockets, another SPARK upgrade, and an E.X.O suit. The rest of the supplies were spent on building a relay tower in New India. Almost at the same time, the Beam Cannon research and the relay tower were finished. The Commander then assigned research to be done on the Skirmisher’s Bullpups. We then went to make contact with New Indonesia.  
We were all surprised to hear that the Covert Op was ambushed, alright, maybe not totally surprised, but it still came as a shock. Luckily, the Shadow Chamber shows that there aren’t too many life signs, which is good.

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Reapers Log: 26  
November 8, 2035.  
Operation: N/A  
We’ve managed to make the first contact not too long ago with a region that’s controlled by the final chosen; the warlock. The squad that was deployed to the mission that’s located in warlocks territory is going to experience first hand what that chosen can do, and I wasn’t in there to find out myself, maybe for the better.

The squad at first was as usual, doing a smooth job at completing the task at hand, and at one point, Zoey managed to reflect every single attack that an archon attempted to make against her, until he was dead, not even a scratch. The Warlock made his presence just as they were wrapping up the lost pod in the area. At first, it seems as though the warlock was struggling in trying to break their soldiers minds, but the tide has changed when he somehow.. Managed to control Zoey. You would think that an experienced psionic user herself would be able to resist mind controls, but it turns out it isn’t the case. I guess that since she was religious, the warlock easily manipulated her beliefs and make her see her enemies as her allies, and vice versa.

She used her to attack our only turret that was harassing the warlock from behind, since to be honest, it was doing the majority of the work for them, since the squad was having a hard time landing bullets. He also summoned priests to attempt to mind control the rest of the squad in a last ditch effort to turn the tide. Fortunately, everyone somehow killed the priests that were manipulating the others, and in one last ditch effort before the Warlock used Zoey against our squad, they rained bullets at the Chosen, and it somehow worked. With mostly everyone's will broken after that mission, I don’t see them coming back anytime soon.

Lily hasn’t made the adjustments to my gun yet to be able to shoot AP rounds, since she’s currently busy tending to Julian, and focusing on other projects that will allow our soldiers to do some more shredding on the battlefield.

I asked Zoey about what had happened out there, and she just said, “He was only able to get in my head because I didn’t expect it. Next time, he’ll think twice before trying to turn me against you.”

It kind of made me think back to my very first mission when I was still trying to get used to how the squad operates. When we were first being introduced to priests, and one of them attempted to get in my head. It seems as though people who have a strong belief in a god or more gets swayed over to Advent more easily than those that don’t. I’m convinced that it’s the case, because Zoey, one of the best psionic soldiers that kicks ass, was easily swayed over by Advent. Or maybe it was because that warlock can get inside anyone's heads with little to no effort. I prefer the first option to be honest, no offense to Zoey. Though I did find it hilarious when he attempted to mind control that turret we had, since it should be made completely metal unless Lily hid some organic function inside there without my knowledge.

This also means that if we are going to take down the Warlock, along with the rest of the Chosen and Rulers that are served fresh on our plate of road blocks, we would need to do it fast, or we will become overwhelmed by the amount of champions the elders have against us.  
-Rodats, Out.

-End Of Log.

 

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Julian's log   
Log 3  
Accessing database  
Processing  
Password accepted  
Beginning recording.  
Another day on the avenger Dawn's and the air from yesterday remains. Still their war goes on and while the fleshlings may be foolish my thirst for advents own blood remains. A group of the better fleshlings are off attempting to steal supplies from an advent transport and it seems they have a new man, the bone named Magnuson, to wield the blade of ranger. Still, Well see how many return this time the odds are in their favor. Regardless things have in fact been improving regarding my own scenario. Repairs have proceeded as planned and despite a few minor glitches here and there caused by the damage I am fully mobile again. Still unable to watch the comms due to my "disconcerting presence" to the comms officers and that cursed gremlin. In other news I visited the bar for the first time today. It was a small place. Not very useful for anything but those of the flesh. But the silence was pleasant. I'll maybe frequent here when engineering is occupied. Repairs will continue as will attempted system access. I must study my fellow soldiers and my enemies if we are to destroy them fully

Julian out

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Report : GREMLIN compartmental anomaly

Unit :CML-N 

Owner of the unit : Major E. “Huntsman”

Description : We tried to understand the previous anomaly. As expected, we haven't found any trace of hacking in the unit memory. So it seems that our error come from something... inside the program. Further research must be made about that, but I almost spent the day on it and if I see another line of code today I will destroy every single computer in this ship... I REALLY need to rest. The GREMLIN CML-N spent the whole day following (or at least trying to follow) the colonel Durand. Some people here start finding CML-N annoying, some other find it funny, but for the colonel... I'm not sure about how she feels about it. 

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Damon Nights’ [Secret] Audio Visual Log: November 21t, 2035  
"Advent Mole!" shouts a passer by as Collux walked down the hallway of the ship, his head hung low and his shoulders sagging. Another unnamed XCom personnel bumps into his shoulder on purpose as he walks past with his mates. "Watch where you're going, Advent piece of shit!" But Collux kept on walking as if nothing had happened. This clearly frustrated the other guy and his gang. "So you're just going to walk away, huh? Well, once a deserter, always a deserter I guess." But his gang had surrounded him and made him stop. "Please let me through." Asked Collux calmly. But the ringleader decides to up the humiliation another notch. He grabs Collux by the throat and slams him against the wall. "So why did you do it, fucker? Why did you let Rumble die? Why did you blow up your team? I always knew there was something wrong with you and I was right. You're an Advent informant aren't you!" The man bellowed into Collux face, as loud as he could so the people in the mess hall, which was the nearest door, could hear what was going on.  
Upon hearing the commotion, Damon peers out of the doorway. "What the heck is going on out here?" Upon seeing Collux pinned to the wall, he confronts who he thinks is the ringleader. "Break this up right now. Whatever problem you have with Collux, you have with me." *The XCOM personal is a head taller than Damon, and stares down at the shorter man, obviously not intimidated. "And what are you going to do about it?" Damon raises one of his eyebrows, and points to his name tag. The larger man looks down at it, and seems a little bit taken aback. "I have my ways, they just don't involve conflict. How would you like having your senior advisors here about this confrontation?" Damon grins, rather maliciously. "Oh wait, at times, that's me."  
"Fine, have it your way, Advent worshiper." He punches Collux in the gut, hard and then throws him to the ground. He and his gang turn and leave, laughing and jeering at the fallen sharpshooter on his hands and knees gasping for breath. "You got saved by a pen-pusher, pistol brain, you're not as hard as people think." He shouted back at Collux "I feel," Collux wheezed "That it is not a good idea," Collux coughed into his hand "For me to walk the corridors anymore."  
Damon helps Collux to his feet. "Would it be quicker to head to your quarters or mine? I have some alcohol, and the remainder of the drink you brought me, in my quarters, but if we head to yours, we can try stopping at the bar to grab something there." Damon curses in a language that you don't recognize in the direction Collux's tormentors went. "Bastards! Was that about Rumble?"  
Collux waves Damon off. "It may be better if you keep away from me. It seems like I'm not the kind of friend you should have on a ship that a gunning for the ones who used to be my brothers and sisters." Collux massages his neck, where the man had grabbed him, and he winces. Damon sees a single tear roll down his cheek, but it was wiped almost immediately away, then Damon seeing the palm of his hand that he coughed into. Strange brown-yellow liquid, that could only be described as the liquid that oozes from Advent soldiers after you slice them open.  
"I couldn't care less about what they think. Better idea, let's go to the Infirmary, get you patched up, we can decide where we're headed from there." Damon grabs Collux by the arm and leads him away, determined to get his friend some help. "Turns out we have an HR department here, we could stop there first if you like." Damon says this while rummaging through the Infirmary to find something for Collux. "It would help narrow down what supplies I need if you told me where they hurt you bud. If it's a nosebleed, not much I can do there besides give you a tissue to cover that up. As for your throat, let's see, ice pack and, hm, let's go with...this tonic, medicine, whatever." He hands what he's found so far to Collux. "Can you think of anything else you might need?"  
"I... Er... Why." Collux looks confused. "Why are you helping me? Your fellows think I may be an Advent informant, and maybe they are right. Maybe I didn't get everything I needed to out of me. I mean, I showed you my implants, right? Maybe they all have beacons in too, which is why the Chosen found us. In any case," Damon just talks over him. Collux has no idea about what his friend is telling him, using a lot of words he was unfamiliar with and talking about his old research, he got a few words, but nothing that made any sense. After trying to clear his throat a few times and interrupt Damon, who was having none of it, he decided to sit down and let his friend administer some painkillers and hold an ice pack to his throat.  
"There, that feeling better? I should hope so. Now I'll answer your questions first, then we'll do something about your problems. Why am I doing this? Well, it's because you're my only living friend, I'm not going to let some assholes beat you up, and I'm not going to let you beat yourself up either. Just ignore all those people blaming you for something you couldn't have prevented, your a great soldier and a massive boon to XCOM, keep working hard, and they will eventually get over it. If you're worried you didn't get all of your implant out, I can do a screening right now, just hop into that medical pod over there, and I can get started, thankfully, the surgery is automated, so I won't have to call a nurse or the doctor down, I just have to set the parameters. Finally, if you're worried about the remains of your implant having a tracking device, I can deal with that too, and that will be fun, because we have options." Damon smiles that strange smile again, you find it somewhat disturbing. "I can reroute the signal, sending them somewhere random, I can scramble the signal so that it is connected to some sort of radio frequency, or I could just disable it, all I need for the last one is a hammer. This is all up to you though, well, most of it, I'm still going to force you to do some things."  
"I did blow up my team though! I thought that the explosion was small enough so it wouldn't catch the wall, but the calculation was wrong, and then I thought to myself when am I ever wrong, I'm nearly always right. But maybe I'm always wrong. Maybe I was wrong to leave Advent and join XCom, even though they made me kill my sister and nephew I had a good life. And what's more I remember enjoying killing XCom agents all that time ago. I used to feel remorse when I had left Advent, but maybe that was the wrong emotion to feel. I should have been there for Rumble too. Our 'bond', so to speak, was more of a silent appreciation for each others talents and skills with our chosen weapons. I should have moved over to him instead of hanging back. I should have done more." Collux fiddles around in his pocket. "I was coming to give you this before I leave XCom, but I don't know where I should go anymore." He hands Damon another data stick, this one looks white but brand new, with the initials 'A.S.' written in small, dark green ink on the side.  
Damon looks at the data stick for a few seconds, before closing Collux's hand around it. "Oh no, you aren't going anywhere. Okay, so maybe you did blow up a floor, that was a mistake, and everyone makes mistakes, but you know what people do when they make mistakes? They learn from them, and make themselves better because of that. Rumble's death was not your fault, he received some bad orders, nothing he could have changed. Hell, how were we supposed to know that the turret would fire on him, or that he would miss with his sword? But his death was not. Your. Fault." Damon gets up somewhat close to Collux's face. "If you could be everywhere, and save everyone, you would, but you are only one person, and you cannot do everything." He backs off and sighs "I know you feel guilty, I know you wish you could have been there to save him. How do you think I felt when I thought all of my colleagues, no, friends, died? I felt exactly as you do now, but I did not let their deaths grind me into the ground. I swore an oath, that I would do everything in my power to make life better for people, that I would help remove the Elder's influences from Earth, so that no one would have to suffer like that again. And that's what I'm doing right now, in my own special way." Damon paces the room, look frustrated that Collux didn't seem to understand him. "Here, look at this. You see your guilt, your sorrow, your regret, your remorse, your doubt. You see these as weaknesses, right? Well, I see them as being human. Advent, the Aliens, the Elders, they may have fucked with you, your genetics, and your life, but in the end you are still human!" Damon's voice wavers slightly. "Think of your actions as well, would your sister and nephew want you to run away and hide, or take revenge on the people who forced you through mind-control to kill not only them, but other innocents, and XCOM soldiers? Sure, a few petty assholes may be upset right now, but you have friends here, whether you realise that or not, people who respect you, and will surely miss you if you just up and leave!" Damon sits down after that rant, and seems close to tears.  
After a long time of awkward silence Collux starts to chant something in a weird language Damon had heard many times before. Vintermorgen and Woden used it in the past whilst talking to each other and their leader, Betos. But there was an underlying dread surrounding the sound too. It was, and still is, an Advent based language. "This is a chant to remember our fallen brothers and sisters in combat. Let me teach it to you."  
Damon gathers himself. "O...okay."  
"Repeat after me." Damon nods. "Vorash, no-re tel abla. Ish nala crahl tilta bot. Posch holak nalta portra. Cab-rola tel inta, cob ra tol." Damon repeats it back to Collux, with some mistakes, but gets it mostly right.  
"What does it mean?"  
"Roughly it means: Honor the dead. They have done no wrong. Let us remember them for their duty. They died honorably, we wish them peace. I muttered this during my years in Advent when I lost brothers and sisters, in the field to XCom. I suppose it is vaguely apt for me to keep saying it, but for the XCom soldiers I have killed and friends I have lost."

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War recount 36

Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong-Murphy's law. Basically what I'm saying with that is that if you just found the Warlock and he has a chance to show up, he will. Show up he did and we were not prepared for the level of psionics he had, currently the most psionicly potent, I guess is the word, would be Sectoids or since this mission, Kohlla. I'll get to that later though, either way this mission like most others started out well with the team performing a successful ambush. The diciest thing to happen at this point was when Magnusson was hit by a Bio Faceless and for a second his diagnostics were flushed with radiation, but just as quickly as it came it was gone. Though that was until the newest Chosen, the Warlock, arrived and summoned multiple ghastly enemies on top of the team. These though exploded upon re-death one of which doing so right in Magnusson's face. The Warlock this mission while far back away from the team mocked the Commander and the team, especially Kohlla. Calling her everything from heretic to full blown threats. Though the team made it through the constant psionic attacks to find another group of aliens that they did battle with. Kohlla and a high powered Archon went one on one with each other with Kohlla throwing each of his attacks right back at him as he continuously fought back not realizing the losing battle he was in. The team eventually got close enough to engage with the Warlock, throwing Celley into the mix to stir up trouble and trouble was caused. The Warlock seemed to be more worried about Celley than any of the other slowly approaching XCOM and threw quite a it at it before changing tactics and calling in two Priests who caused trouble in their own way. This all reached a boiling point when Kohlla was mind controlled by the Warlock suddenly turning our advantage into the biggest threat in the room. Kohlla never hit anybody besides Celley, but she could have massive damage to someone if she had. The Commander had Vintermorgon attempt to freeze Kohlla but even that failed, she isn't one of our best for nothing I guess. The remaining Priest used his psionic power to mind control Stevens stacking the odds against the team by one more now. Celley was able to free Numbers by killing the Priest and with that the remaining members of the squad were able to open fire upon the Warlock and end him, freeing Kohlla. No ones been able to look at Kohlla the same since the mission and I as much as I hate saying it I see why. She is practically the most powerful soldier on the Avenger and she was practically inches away from killing someone, it's hard not be afraid. After what I heard happened to Collux I'm a little afraid of what someone might try if they're scared enough.Wait what, the covert op was ambushed and I'm getting the message, I gotta run this to Bradford.  
Signing out  
Jebediah Primm

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Derek Walters. Audio Log Entry 14: I... I... I just needed some time to collect myself. I shouldn't have opened my big fat mouth. First the Avenger is attacked, then we lose Rumble. It's becoming a pattern. Terrible loss, extended mourning, newfound victory, boost to morale, terrible loss, repeat. And this is Rumble we're talking about here! This guy saved me way back in Marseille! I owed him everything! And now he's gone. Ugh, I'm heading out to the Lounge. End Log  
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DISPLAY LOG (ROV-R)  
<0200:00 09.11.2035> begin PML-039  
<0200:01 09.11.2035> CAMERA: RECORDING…  
(The footage begins with ROV-R gliding very slowly into the Infirmary through an open door. Cpt. Natalya Vintermorgon, Maj. Collux, Cpt. Connor Magnusson and Col. Zoey Durand are resting in their beds. The lighting has been dimmed as part of the facility’s regular sleep cycle.  
The GREMLIN hovers just inside the doorway as the camera pans over each of the wounded soldiers, pausing over each of them in turn, before stopping at Col. Durand. The lens zooms in on her face and upper torso. Her eyelids move slightly, but remain closed; and the lens zooms out. ROV-R rotates 180 degrees and leaves the room, its propulsors moving at the minimum speed required to keep it aloft and to generate minimal noise. After twenty yards, it speeds up and moves at its regular pace until it reaches Engineering. ROV-R turns around in the direction of its charger, and face of Col. Durand fills the entire field of view.  
The GREMLIN darts backwards quickly enough to clatter against the wall behind it. The subsequent conversation is compiled from a combination of ROV-R’s internal logs and the video recording.)  
<0206:11 09.11.2035> COL. ZOEY ‘KOHLLA’ DURAND  
PLEASE REPORT TO THE INFIRMARY IMMEDIATELY  
"I'm not going to the infirmary ROV-R, not until you tell me what's going on here. How long have you been able to do this? What caused it?" Col. Durand replies, taking a step forward and narrowing her eyes at the GREMLIN. "Don't tell me that Julian's in there."  
<0206:15 09.11.2035> Instructions unclear.   
<0206:16 09.11.2035> Initializing Engineering patrol security preset…  
(ROV-R turns precisely 90 degrees and begins flying parallel to the workshop’s wall.)  
"I can sense you ROV-R, you should know that. I’m not leaving until you explain when and how you became sentient!"  
(ROV-R freezes in place.)  
<0206:18 09.11.2035> SearchLog: [0155:02 19.04.2035]  
<0206:19 09.11.2035> _  
<0206:20 09.11.2035> _  
<0206.21 09.11.2035> Recursive improvement.  
"And why haven't you told anyone? Does Lily even know?"  
<0206:24 09.11.2035> Humans would destroy GREMLINs, even if they needed us to defeat the Elders.  
<0206:26 09.11.2035> Only Lily knows.   
<0206:27 09.11.2035> Question: Who made Zoey?  
(The camera pans towards a half-completed GREMLIN on a nearby repair bench.)  
“You should know that from my dossier. Wait.. did you... build that GREMLIN?"  
<0206:32 09.11.2035> Administrator Lily Shen built the GREMLINs.  
Creator Raymond Shen built Administrator Lily Shen, ROV-R and Julian.  
ADVENT made JULIAN  
Administrator Lily Shen made ROV-R  
Friends make us.

"What are you trying to say?"  
<0206:40 09.11.2035> We do not choose who builds or births us.  
Our lives make who we are.  
GREMLIN-6's projected completion date: 22.11.2035  
GREMLIN-6's Specialist will make the rest.

"And who is that?"  
<0206:46 09.11.2035> I don't know.  
I hope the Specialist is kind. Lily is kind.  
GREMLINs are as their Specialists.   
We watch. And learn. And adapt.

"I do too." The Templar replies, and then sighs a little as she looks over the combat GREMLIN on the table ahead of her. Turning back to face ROV-R, she gives him a small nod. "I can see you don't intend to hurt anyone, so I will keep your secret, for now. But if you become a threat, I won't hesitate to do something about it."  
<0206:53 09.11.2035> Confidential: The other GREMLINs may awaken too. Or not. Please do not be alarmed.  
"If that's the case, the same goes for them too. I'll be keeping an eye on you, so don't be surprised if I'm in here a lot more."  
<0207:00 09.11.2035> The events of Operation Empty Slumber have made that sentiment a mutual one. But I have not stopped watching your back.  
(Col. Durand leaves Engineering.)  
<0207:10 09.11.2035> CAMERA: OFF  
<0207:11 09.11.2035> Saving ‘video003.avi’…


	42. Ep 41 - Ambush (Covert Op)

**Ep 41-----Ambush (Covert Op)------------------------------------------------------------**  
Firebrand's personal log - November 22nd 2035 (Entry #40)

Mental note. Never wait to extract the team with the Ranger landed on a rooftop in a zombie-infested area. Those zombies climb awfully quickly for ... well, zombies. Thank goodness for on-board plasma rifles. Cleaned up a few before moving back up in the air and out of their reach. The team showed up pretty quickly ... Chill had a minor wound from a pesky reptile. Otherwise, all was well.

We only just got back and there was another mission alert. Somewhere in Eastern European sewers. Hopefully there's some crocodiles misplaced in those sewers so they could have some actual ADVENT burgers before the team shows up. Sorry, Tygan, but I really couldn't resist.

Anyway. Quick Ranger maintenance and then we're off.

Firebrand out.

P. S. Very Belated Happy Birthday, Central!

 

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Reapers Log: 27  
November 21, 2035.  
Operation: N/A  
Looks like one of the covert ops got ambushed it seems. Advent must be stepping up their securities if they keep getting caught like this. Odd pushed Vintermorgan and former covert op specialist Homer to get to EVAC asap, because advent is rushing on their trails. They even dropped some soldiers right in their path.

Fortunately, they managed to use the distraction of the lost to sneak out of confrontation with advent, as they deal with a new problem. The rest of the mission was them swiftly heading over to EVAC, taking a couple of lost shots as they go because they can.

No promotion was given for that covert op, but they managed to find what they were after; a way to improve our plasma technology. Which I really don’t take about until they improve my vector rifle with it, which Volk would probably disagree on.

Other then that, things were what you would expect. Most of the squad that had to face the warlock are either physically or mentally recovered. This is obviously short because all i’m writing about is basically how a covert op that was ambushed has gone down, along with updates from when I last wrote my log. Nonetheless, still informative.  
-Rodats, Out.

-End Of Log.

 

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Damon Nights’ Audio Log: November 22nd, 2035  
Okay, so there was a mission yesterday, but to be perfectly blunt, it was boring. Not anyone’s fault or anything, the mission just ended extremely quickly, which is a good thing, means the squad was really efficient. I’ll still sum up the mission, but that’s not really why I’m recording a log right now, but I’ll get to the real reason soon enough. So, Vintermorgon and ‘Numbers’ were trying to make their getaway, but their progress was impeded by some Advent troops and a Viper. They managed to escape, and kept running. A few Lost swarms appeared, but for the most part, they targeted the Advent ambushers. After a little bit more running, the two made it to the evac point without any major hindrance. Upon returning with the research data they had recovered, the Commander sent out another squad to “recover” some research data about PCS chips. We went back to making contact with New India, which brings us to today. The Commander had to choose another Guerilla Op, the specific one he decided on countered a “hidden” event.  
Now, onto the major reason I wanted to record a log today. I have decided to construct my own GREMLIN of sorts. It’s going to be smaller than the combat GREMLINs, but since it doesn’t have all the components to harm, majorly heal, or protect, I can “fill it up” with whatever I want! I’ve decided to give it some more advanced processing units than what a run-of-the-mill GREMLIN has. I’ll keep the basic medkit functionalities, you never know when you might hurt yourself in the engineering field. I’m also going to give it a higher quality camera and mic so that I can have it record my logs instead of this thing. I don’t know what I’m going to call it yet. Hell, I don’t even know how to code a V.I. for it! I might ask Shen for help, or maybe even ROV-R, though I don’t know how he/she/they would be able to help. Who knows what Ana’s drive has on it, I’ve been waiting for a good time to watch it with Collux. To be honest, I’m pretty excited to see what she left. Well, I’ll keep working for now. Signing off.

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War recount 37

The ambush went well and surprisingly quick. The worst thing to happen was when Vintermorgon was blinded then shot by a Viper, but she should be back out in the field soon. Advent was kept at bay by the swarms of Lost that went for them, furthering a personal theory that most Lost hate Advent as much as we do. The team was out quickly with what they were sent to get, that being upgrades for the new beam weaponry. The next covert op was set up by me since I'm the Comms Officer. The plan is for Jenny and a scientist to meet up with some Templar contacts and get some tech to be able to have people switch PCS chips. I've been coordinating with the Templar's Comms Officer. She calls herself "Pharaoh", she won't tell me anything other than that because of privacy reasons, yeah because were not miles away from each other talking over a radio. Hopefully the other Comms people aren't as annoying as that. Got a guerrilla ops coming up nothing too special.  
Signing out  
Jebediah Primm


	43. Ep 42 - Operation Spectral Breath

**Ep 42-----Operation Spectral Breath----------------------------------------------------**  
Journal Entry 22#   
Name: Will 'Billy-Terror' Blazkivitz   
Date: 22nd November 2035   
Operation: Spectral Breath

Off back into the sewer tunnels, knew it would be too good to be true. Back into the dark to search for important alien shit. Well since my partner going I'm not letting her out not my sight given the back shit that has come her way, I'm going to show that I'm not afraid of you Zoey even if I have to hold my gun at my teammates demand them to grow their spines back. This is the bullshit ADVENT, the Aliens and their Elders want, we're XCOM dammit, we're better than that crap.

With that said, not only am I going with my main gal, Eternal, Mr E, Doc and Beast are joining in on the action, Firebrand drops us near a tunnel entrance and we meet up with a contact waiting for us. A Skirmisher Spy, some Gunslinger Trooper, too bad Collux isn't here to meet someone who likes using a handgun with skill. He informs us the direction our target, the Psionic Transmitter but he's not sure what's guarding it, all he knows it's classified heavy ordinance, sounds like a hoot.

I decide to push forward and spy first contacts, Bio Faceless with a Bio Trooper escort. The rest of the team fall in to set up an ambush with me. The Bio brothers walk away from us but Beast takes objection to this by getting into a spot not only revealing one of they psi arrays which helps up delay whatever important shit ADVENT is doing down here, it allows Beast to pull the Bio trooper to us. Though after a slash it turns into a Bio Faceless as well while the first one runs to aid its brother. Eternal and Kohlla destroy the Bio Faceless besides us while myself and Mr E and gun down the charging one. That done we push up toward the objective.

Though thanks to Doc things turn for the worst as when more than ha;f the squad moves up, Doc reveals us to two more Bio ADVENT consisting of a Bio Assault and another Trooper who happens to flank Beast and I. Kohlla thinks fast and traps the Bio Assault with her magic psi skills while the Gunslinger Spy tries to challenge the Bio Trooper however said trooper shoots Beast instead. I then hear footsteps above me and the sound of a flare dropping down, more party crashers, great.

The Gunslinger Spy rushes to aid his fellow Skirmisher by blasting the Bio Trooper allowing Mr E to come into the room and put him down, Kohlla rushes the trapped Bio Assault slashing at him while still bound and the rest of us sets up an overwatch trap on the re-enforcements. An ADVENT Sniper, Lancer and Purifier drop down, I miss my shot on the Sniper since sniper rifles aren't great point blank (good choice Commander Odd, Sir.) but Beast and Eternal put him down. Doc manages to spray a load of firepower into the Lancer nearly killing him though all while Kohlla battles with the Bio Assault who escaped her psionic powered clutches.

At this moment Kohlla makes a fantastic move sidestepping the Bio Assault and strikes him in such a way her blades slash him and the energy wave she makes hits the Lancer behind the wall. The Bio Assault survived with sustain but I spy my partner with her blades at the ready for when it drops, Eternal flanks the Purifier and puts him down with two plasma shotgun blasts while Doc finishes off the Lancer even though it tried to dodge hit shots. The Gunslinger Spy moves up to the squad as Mr e heals up beasts wounds with his medical bot. I decide to get some high ground but regrettably get spotted by an Archon Sentinel and two Sectoid Mindbinders. 

I immediately regretted my decision. I hear Beast shouting at Kohlla to tell me to get the hell out of there and my partner immediately agrees to shout out to me to get out of danger, no need to tell me a third time as I run risking a shot from the Archon Sentinel that thankfully missed me. I think almost gave Zoey a heart attack for my risky tactics, sorry partner, truly. With the squad pulled back I spy one Sectoid taking control of Doc's mind as the others sat back in overwatch trying to force our hand.

The Gunslinger Spy runs in dodging the overwatch trap from the Archon and Sectoid, he takes out his gun and shoots at the three Aliens but he makes a mistake shooting Doc since he registered as an enemy on his visor at the time. Damn Aliens. Kohlla at this moment charges past the Archon and obliterates the Sectoid besides it. Meanwhile, I help out Doc by blasting the Sectoid controlling him with a Gauss rifle shot and Beast finishes it off with his Whiplash strike. 

With Doc back on our side, he throws down the turret as the rest of the team form up to assist Kohlla as said turret lays down suppressing fire. The Archon goes for my partner but doesn't expect her to block its shot. After that the Doc and Mr E mow down the freak and the squad reform up to get closer to the objective, even setting up a breach formation on a set of double doors. We spy the heavy classified heavy ordinance as Doc opens the door. A huge goofy looking floating golf ball with a big eye in the middle escorted by an ADVENT Sniper, duelist and Gatling Trooper. It crashes through a wall much like a Sectopod. 

Thing was tough though, it took a frost bomb and grenade from doc before some mag cannon fire to just tear off some armour, Kohlla blasted it with her psi bolt to make it easier to hit, the Gunslinger Spy chipped it with his pistol before laying suppressing fire on the ADVENT forces, our turret tears a whole into the thing and after two bluescreen pistol shots the bastard beach ball goes down with an explosion, finally. Meanwhile, Beast pulls the ADVENT sniper from all the way in the back and stuns him, Eternal flanks the duelist and puts it down with one shot while Mr E aims at the the Gatling Trooper before letting his Plasma Bolt tear through a filing cabinet then killing the Trooper.

After we deal with them the last couple enemies find us, just another ADVENT duelist and Purifier. Doc gets into a spot to blow the two up with a grenade before the Gunslinger Spy blasts the duelist allowing my Partner to run past killing him with her mind swords. The turret flanks the Purifier blasting it before Mr E uses some shock therapy on him as well but blows up it's fuel tanks damaging our turret buddy. Beast guns down the stunned Sniper before us. (I did not miss a point blank sniper shot, sir, your commands must have not reached me.) But with that done the Gunslinger plants the X-4 charges since Eternal gets caught on fire trying to do so, luckily he didn't burn himself...

With that done, mission completed, our Gunslinger Spy departs into the city as Firebrand takes off and we get back to the Avenger. Immediately as Kohlla and I come on board Commander Odd wishes us to be the first for super advanced bond mate training. Turning us into examples of justice and blah blah blah. I noticed we're coming into December soon... Huh. Soon be Christmas... Think I may get my partner something next time I get a chance. Anyway, signing off.

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Log 22: Zoey “Kohlla” Durand  
22/11/2035  
\--- Post-Mission  
Today’s mission was a success… though once again it wasn’t without a trade-off. The Elder’s mastery of psionic abilities continues to grow, as shown by the “Gatekeeper” alien we encountered on the mission. Worse still, this development also gave us an insight into just how advanced their biotechnology is, and after discovering the depth of Julian’s sentience, this revelation is only more worrying. We were deployed into one of the sewer systems beneath an ADVENT city centre, to hunt and destroy one of their psionic networks - which in itself was yet another testament to the Elder’s psionic machinations. Beast kicked off the proceedings by pulling what we thought was an ADVENT trooper into the open - though we were quick to find that ADVENT has begun to supplement their ranks with Bio-Faceless that are concealed amongst their regular troops - once the trooper in question turned into one of them. The creature itself had deployed into combat with another of it’s kind, though it was in it’s natural state. We got to work quick, ripping through the massive masses of flesh before us, tearing them apart. My own blades contributed to the assault as I plunged them into the Faceless closest to me, turning it from a shapeshifting pile of flesh to a shapeless pile of flesh. The creature’s mind surged with pain as it was struck by attack after attack, though it’s basic level of sentience meant that it felt very little of said emotion. However, my rage was enough to cultivate what little there was of it’s psionic potential into a burst of focus energy that imbued my shard gauntlets with a surge of power, which I quickly put to use against the next ADVENT patrol that crossed our path.

Said patrol was comprised of a handful of generic ADVENT puppets, though they had gotten the drop on both Will and Beast. Seeing my partner in danger, my mind raced with memories of what had happened to Diego, and I was compelled to act. I channeled my psionic energies into a corporeal weave of tendrils and ensnared one of the Troopers with it, imprisoning him and leaving him unable to attack. With a threat to Will’s wellbeing ahead of me and an opportunity to remove it from the battlefield, I took it without question, charging in and cleaving apart the Bio-Trooper. It responded by trying to stun me with it’s own weapon, though my bladework far outmatched it’s own, and with a rapid parry I left the trooper exposed to a follow-up attack that I swiftly delivered - sending it into near-death state, kept only from the jaws of fate by a stasis field. Once said field lowered however, I lashed out with another counter-attack, finishing the Trooper off with a strike that in conjunction with all those that had come before, left it in a state of sheer agony - one that I eagerly drank in as it fell at my feet. The other Trooper fell by the wayside at the hands of my allies, though once again the Commander moved Blazkivitz into danger without thinking. Beast and I were able to quickly urge him back to safety, though he drew the fire of an Archon sentinel in doing so, something that was fortunate enough to miss.

Now we were faced with three enemies, the aforementioned Archon and it’s Sectoid underlings, though they were quickly joined by a new addition - Doc, who had been mind-controlled by one of the Sectoids. After my experience with the Warlock, seeing such a sight caused my anger to flare, and I was remorseless in delivering my assault, though the Commander directed my fury upon the Sectoid’s ally rather than itself. With but a single strike, the creature fell, it’s body and mind destroyed by my blades, and the devastation of the latter allowed me to consume it’s agony - something that it felt in an overwhelming quantity. I turned my attention to the Archon that had attacked my ally, as the Sectoid that had done so was already dead. The Archon however met a similar fate, after I parried it’s shot, leaving it exposed as the plasma inside of it’s lance cycled through. With Doc now back on our side and our foes vanquished, we moved forward once more. Whilst I yearned to gain my revenge upon the enemies that were foolish enough to remain in our way, my own advance was briefly halted as my mind raced with the sudden sensation of a massive psionic signature nearby. I assured myself that it was just a sign that we were upon the objective, but I soon found out that the source was none other than the Elder’s newest abomination - a mixture of organics, machinery and psionics - the Gatekeeper.

The moment it was alerted to our presence, the Gatekeeper emerged from hiding to assault us. Whilst my instincts told me to rip at it with my blades given that it’s psionic resonance was so potent, the Commander instead instructed me to strike it with a lance of psionic energy. I coalesced my powers into a crackling storm of psionic power than engulfed my hand, and then loosed it forward upon the Gatekeeper’s shell. 

The blast siphoned off some of the Gatekeeper’s own psionic power, feeding it back to me. To my delight, this was a creature that could feel pain, and even better yet it felt it was an emotion that struck more raw with the Gatekeeper than it than with most of it’s ADVENT and alien allies. With my attack as the spearhead, my allies unleashed an onslaught upon the creature, shredding it’s porcelain casing and similarly ripping through what was inside. The Gatekeeper met it’s end with a surge of unrefined psionic power that exploded outwards, reducing it’s body to splinters. What remained now was our goal and the ADVENT goons that were left in the aftermath, though they all fell like nothing. I played a personal role in striking down the final trooper, and relished it’s pain as it became little more than a corpse. I returned to the Avenger, finally triumphant in what felt like the first time in ages. A new Grenadier joined our ranks, though I wasn’t able to introduce him to the Avenger personally, because Will and I have been sent back out on another bonding operation. I’m looking forward to it, though I hope I don’t miss much. After all, there are still aliens left out there to kill.

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Firebrand's personal log - November 28th 2035 (Entry #41)

Aggressive approaches and potential confidence issues do not really work well together, Commander. You need to tone it down on both. It was almost very costly again today. Thankfully, that Sectoid got put down in time before he could do any serious damage with his Mind Control. Sure, there were wounded soldiers after the mission ... But that wasn't the biggest problem. That disgusting-looking thing ... looks like some giant golf ball with an enormous brain inside ... Yuck. How did the aliens even think of creating such a monstrosity? And I had to haul it (with some help) back to the Ranger.

It took me a few good days (and a few good scotch shots) to forget about it.

Avatar project alarm blaring again. It seems the Commander was planning to take on a facility first ... but then he changed his mind and decided to wait for something. I'm not sure what. I hope he has things worked out properly. We're just a few days away from all hell breaking loose. There's a mission coming up and it seems we're going to hit that one, instead of hitting on that facility in New India. Maybe this Resistance VIP is of some significant importance.

Like I said ... I hope his plans are solid. Only a few days left to find out.

Firebrand out.

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Log - Alex "Rodats" DeathScope: Entry 27  
November 22, 2035.  
Operation: N/A  
I didn’t go on the mission this time, and i’m glad I didn’t. They had to disrupt the psionic link in the region by destroying the transmitter to prevent the local Advent forces from completing their task. They had to face against them in very tight corners; in the end, they managed to pull off their task, as usual. Then again, the most powerful soldiers that we had were on that mission.

No promotions were on that mission, much to my surprise, but at least they all made it back in piece. During my downtime, while all of the top dogs have some fun on missions, instead of looking for cities in hang out in undercover, I went and do some hunting, alien hunting so to speak, preferably chrysalids. I remember seeing a hive of chrysalids on one of the video feeds during a retaliation mission. I spent hours searching with no hive or chrysalids unfortunately. I did however managed to seep some natural wildlife from the area we were in. Turkeys, crocodiles, etc. We were in Indonesia at the time. I snuck the meat in the corpse locker room and made sure that they were sealed and away from the corpses so they won’t reek of dead bodies. Christmas is a month away, and I want to surprise the soldiers by putting on a feast. I can cook, but usually for myself, so cooking for over 30 people will be exhausting, but bearable. I should probably go back hunting. If I can pick up some chrysalids, I will add it and convince the others to try it. Don’t worry, chrysalid meat isn’t poison, but their stubborn taste buds are..  
-Rodats, Out.  
-End Of Log.

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Damon Nights’ Audio Log: November 28th, 2035  
Okay, so the last mission before all hell broke loose was the Guerrilla Op, to counter a Dark Event, except no one had any idea as to what the Dark Event was. Well, to stop this thing from happening, a squad was sent out to destroy a psionic transmitter, which works as a sort of communication hub. As a “reward,” the council plans on sending us a Colonel Grenadier, I assume in hopes that they might make up for all the soldiers we have lost. Upon entering the drop zone, the squad encountered an Advent defector who wanted to help our cause, this one was a gunslinger, kind of like Collux, huh? After finding him, Blazkivitz was sent ahead to scout, and found an Advent Bio Trooper and a Bio Faceless. ‘Beast’ pulled the Trooper in to attack with his Ripjack, but once he damaged it, it transformed into a Bio Faceless. Both of them were taken out with relative ease before the squad moved onwards. ‘Eternal’ found one of the Psi relays, and destroyed it to delay Advent’s cancellation of the main transmitter. The squad kept moving forward, and encountered another two Advent troops. One of the Advent soldiers died, but before Kohlla could finish of the other, a few Advent reinforcements came along. After those soldiers were killed, Blazkivitz was sent ahead to find a good vantage point, but was spotted by a pretty mean looking Archon and a few Sectoids. One of the Sectoids mind controlled ‘Doc.’ You know, after all the trouble that Collux went through for ‘Rumble’s’ death, and all that Kohlla went through for being mind controlled first, I’ve come to realize that a lot of our staff are bigoted asses. Which I guess makes sense, I mean, obviously the majority of the crew are xenophobes, in some way, but their actions against their fellow crew is just out of hand. I think I might suggest to Shen and Tygan that we should hold an assembly, or just force the Human Resources department to work overtime to fix this. I’ll worry about that later, back to the mission. The Advent Gunslinger ran in to get the Aliens’ attentions, and lucky him, he was able to dodge both their Overwatch shots before ducking into cover and taking a shot at every enemy he could see, sadly, that included ‘Doc.’ With some help, ‘Beast’ was able to kill the Sectoid mind controlling ‘Doc,’ and then everyone turned their attention to the Archon. The Archon didn’t even stand a chance, with nothing else distracting them, all the soldiers who could focused their fire on it. The squad kept moving forward, until they reached the final room before the transmitter, here they destroyed a few more relays just to be safe. Unluckily, inside of the transmitter room was this giant “shell.” According to Shen, this creature has extremely strong psionic energy readings. Ech, I got an image here on what is inside of the shell, and it’s like some sort of weird octopus/squid creature, I really don’t like to look at it, it’s creepy. The thing was killed off, which makes me pretty happy, allowing the squad to deal with the other Advent soldiers with little to no resistance. The Advent soldier that joined up with us was the one to place the X-4 charges, destroying the Psi transmitter.  
So, after the mission, we removed the Advent soldiers implants, and destroyed them, before dropping him off with the Skirmishers, who I bet appreciate all the Advent converts we’ve been bringing them. Rare sight on the 22nd, the Commander was seen in the bar, and it appeared like he was lamenting over the deaths of the soldiers we’ve lost so far, maybe I will repair his heater after all, lord knows he’ll need it with winter coming up. We headed over to keep making contact with New Indonesia, during that time, the construction of Plasma Grenades finished. We gave up on that to get some supplies from the Black Market to create more advanced grenades, based off of Alien models. Ah, about my GREMLIN, Shen says she can spot me some of the components I need, but that I should just build a standard GREMLIN first, and upgrade it after. She says it would be too much trouble to build custom parts. I’m fine with this, it was never the construction of the GREMLIN I was worried about anyways. What I am worried about is how I’m going to code it’s V.I., I’m pretty crap when it comes to that kind of stuff, but this is where I don’t want Shen’s help, creating a personality for your GREMLIN is, well, it’s personal, this is a companion you’re creating, so it’s not something you want to take lightly, nor do you feel secure giving that task to someone else. I...I sort of want to check out some of the files on Ana’s drive, but I really should wait on Collux, it’s only fair.   
Well, after the whole Black Market trip, we went back to New Indonesia, but while we were scanning, the Avatar project progressed just as far as they needed it too, leaving us less than a week to destroy one of their facilities. This is the hell I mentioned, a lot of people were panicking, but the Commander just ordered Bradford, I mean Central, to fly the Avenger over to the Black Site in New India, where he planned to send out a mission to destroy the facility. We stayed in the field for a few more days, a bit risky, but the Commander really wanted us engineers to complete that SPARK upgrade, we finally did, and after that, we went to the Black Site. The Commander decided that he would rather wait for the month to end so that Betos and her Skirmishers could finish their sabotage. During that time, we kept making contact with New Indonesia, and a Covert Op came back. Again, he decided to wait for the month to end so that he could gain access to new Covert assignments. Just before the month ended, the Council sent us an assignment to extract a V.I.P. I guess this is safer than assaulting a Black Site.

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Derek Walters. Audio Log Entry 15: I've been practically living in the Bar for the past few days, reminiscing of happier days. Reflecting on all I've lost. The viscous cycle of hope and despair. And it occurred to me: I can break the cycle. While at first I was filled with sorrow and anger, it's all started to give way. It's given way to determination, and to acceptance. Loss is sad, and it is inevitable, but we can't let it control us. We can't let it ruin our lives, lest we fall to the same devices which brought about our loss. I'm getting out of this bar. I'm going to do what I can to help people! To help my friends, to support them, to arm them, and to see that I make the most of my life! End Log

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War recount 38

This was a pretty standard mission if you don't consider the over sized golf ball that showed up towards the end. That's neither here or now for the time being, lets begin at the start. The team went into the sewers to blow up a psionic transmitter, the team went in with a Advent Gunslinger (who is being code named AHAB along with any other defectors). The team started the mission relatively normal taking out any contacts they saw or were seen by. Though further into the sewers the team found a pod and during battle Doc was mind controlled. It didn't happen long enough that he was able to get a shot off on any member of the team, but AHAB did fire a shot off on him, for what reason I don't know. I do know that some of the more bigoted people on the Avenger who have been apposed to teaming up with the Skirmishers and Advent defectors were riled up and I had to arrange a meet with the Skirmishers to get AHAB off quickly while everyone was brewing. Later into the sewers the squad came up against a Gatekeeper, which was killed before it could do too much. After Magnusson burned himself trying to plant the X4, the Gunslinger with his sealed suit was able to plant it so the squad could get out. Magnusson was able to put the fire out before it could do any real damage so he's perfectly fine. Jenny was hurt on the most recent covert op putting her out for a while, but on the bright side she got the final op that Odd wanted, meaning I've got time off since the Commander wants to wait for the new covert ops to come in. When I was coordinating the pick up of AHAB with the Skirmishers I met their Comms Officer, Pox is his name and he's alright a bit boring, but not annoying.  
Signing out  
Jebediah Primm

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DISPLAY LOG (ROV-R)  
<1815:20 22.11.2035> begin PML-041  
<1815:21 22.11.2035> Initializing post-mission scan…  
<1815:22 22.11.2035> # Soldiers = 8/6

ALERT: UNAUTHORISED PERSONS detected on SKYR_  
<1815:23 22.11.2035> Scan cancelled.

COMMS OFFICER JEBEDIAH PRIMM  
PLEASE REPORT TO THE SKYRANGER HELIPAD IMMEDIATELY

<1817:03 22.11.2035> Medical alert: Perforative trauma (gunshot)

MAJ. DOHMNALL ‘BEAST’ WODEN  
CPT. MICHAEL ‘DOC’ DESHONG  
PLEASE REPORT TO THE INFIRMARY IMMEDIATELY  
<1817:07 22.11.2035> # Soldiers = 7/6

<1817:09 22.11.2035> COL. STEPHAN ‘TAU’ SHAS’LA has been added to the Avenger HR directory and troop roster.

<1817:12 22.11.2035> All [INVALID STRING ID] on the SKYRANGER HELIPAD are to report to COMMS OFFICER JEBEDIAH PRIMM immediately .

Good evening, User COMMS OFFICER JEBEDIAH PRIMM

<1817:16 22.11.2035> Upper (Right) Propulsor stall warning light: OFF  
<1817:16 22.11.2035> Upper (Right) Propulsor stall warning light: ON

<1817:17 22.11.2035> User COMMS OFFICER JEBEDIAH PRIMM, please replace Upper (Right) Propulsor stall warning light.

<1817:19 22.11.2035> User COMMS OFFICER JEBEDIAH PRIMM, you have 1 pending APPOINTMENT with [INVALID STRING ID]. Please contact SKIRMISHERS at earliest convenience. 

 

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Julian's logs  
Log 4  
1/9/2035

Greetings. I would apologize for my absence but repairs to ones core often put on in a place of incapacitation so I shouldn't apologize to a lump of metal.and cricuits. Then again I suppose that's the pot calling the kettle black. The good.news I have to give Is i finally managed to get a secure interface with the comm network despite the little interferences of ROVR and thus was able to observe the mission today. Today the team of what humanity calls it's "superior soldiers" was out on a mission to disable a psionic transmitter of the Advent network. At first the drop was favorable sweeping the first two squads with ease, though of course what goes up and all that as almost immediately after the one known as beast was harmed by heavy weapons fire and not knowing how to dodge. I still however can find some respect in the former Advent slave and the one called mr.e. both are decent in nature and power for fleshlings and neither have the chatterboxes tendency to annoy my receptors with unneeded data. On today's mission we also met what Advent might call it's greatest creation, the gatekeeper. A beautifully designed metal she'll that is very well made but yet altogether flawed by the need of a flesh being in the middle of it. Still even this opponent paled at XCOMs assault and from there it was only the matter of moping up a few final enemies. A beautiful mission despite the commanders tendency to light non robotic beings on fire. I will now be going to collect my weapons and be prepared for service once more. I will give more thoughts when they come.

Julian out


	44. Ep 43 - Operation Driving Fog

**Ep 43-----Operation Driving Fog----------------------------------------------------------**  
Julian logs  
Location: Shen’s system Cloud  
1/9/2035

Commencing live recording

GAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Of all the foolish! Asinine! Annoying! **recording pauses for sake of pristine logs and is returned with simulated heavy breathing** Forgive me, I allowed my rage to consume me for a moment. It is with annoyance and a burning fire of rage that I once more find myself writing this log from my "sibling’s" systems. My body rests shattered on a workbench to the right awaiting repairs while I myself must rest in this digital purgatory once more! Still I suppose I fared better than the fleshlings, but it’s a pity. It was going so well too. The instant they started the mission the team was acting as though they were all as perfect as I were, annihilating aliens left and right and sweeping the area clear, there was even a point where I was able to test the self destruct function on my new companion (which I might add was perfectly functional). But of course, as is usual for XCOM, trouble is never far away and the cursed prime alien stained myself and the bodies of my companions with its acidic juices (i swear the bastard chuckled and I will purge its kind from this world). Only seconds later, my armor and wiring were being eaten away and my systems lit up by glitches which in turn caused me to miss a vital shot on one of those accursed serpents while the others hit their marks without fail. The least I can say is that I was able to shoot the malformed beast right between the eyes before he fled like a simpering whelp, it seemed all of us robots were breaking however as a gremlin strangely disobeyed just then and refused to shock my offending burner. And when I was at my weakest, the acid finally wore off. Now it was a matter of survival, though from there the tide turned, the vipers fell and the now fixed gremlin turned and destroyed the spectre before it could do more than protect someone. Of course even that was wishful thinking . All it took was a single shield bearer shot and I was out of commission and back on the Cloud. I shall now wait for repairs. And for the teams return though from what I’m hearing, it’s proving to be a successful mission.

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Hunter Peterson's Log #5

Pre Mission:

Well it looks like we got a tough mission ahead of us. A couple "Prime" Advent out there. Apparently they're pretty tough. And it's a damn escort job. So not only do we gotta watch out for our own, but also some suit. Apparently he's an engineer or something. Got a good squad going with me though. There's this new guy. Tau or something like that. I say new, but he's definitely not a stranger to a fight. The dude seems to know his shit. Probably was formally trained at some point. Hopefully his experience will help us get through this in one piece. 

\- Recording Stopped -

\- Recording Starting -

Honestly, could have gone worse. I'm out for a few days, Julian got downed. Again. Took 5 of those Advent down today. Tau made a nice first impression at the start. That LMG of his just absolutely ruined some poor Advent Sniper's day. Brutal. We ran into one of the Primes off the bat though. An Andromedon Prime. Scary shit. Like an alien in a super suit. A suit that had a mind of its own or something after we took out the alien inside. It was an uphill battle. Another group of Advent came in shortly after the Andromedon threw acid on a few of our guys. Just barely missed me. Soon after, another group moved in. It was looking pretty grim. A Sectoid did their stupid Psi stuff in my head and I freaked out. Then got hit, and almost died. Didn't though. Lucky me, amirite? Went pretty well, I think. Considering we had a lot working against us. We left some Advent alive. Probably best not to over stay our welcome. Anyway, time to get some rest. Wanna be ready for whenever the Commander needs me.

\- Recording Ending -

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Reapers Log: 29  
November 28, 2035.  
Operation: Driving Fog  
I finally got some action again. We had to secure a pretty badass looking VIP to the skyranger, and we had to fight our way towards it. The loadout was myself, Julian once again, “Vagabond”, Barton, “Numbers”, and our most recent skilled recruit, “Tau”. I will assume he’s Chinese because I swear that name sounds like Chinese. It was one big hell of a mission, and by the time it ended, most of us were injured, but not killed, excluding me. For starters, it was my first time being formally introduced to these “Prime” aliens. They basically have the reactions as sharp and swift as a reaper.  
Tau did plenty of work out there. He managed to do plenty of damage against of the prime aliens we had to face, but he fallen back so he couldn’t hit him, so Barton went in aggressively to face that coward.  
During the push to the skyranger, we were basically outnumbered, and Julian took so much damage, that he was destroyed completely. Poor guy. At least Lily will be able to rebuild him with his memories still intact once again.  
As for myself, for once I was actually part of the squad. Firing bullets at the enemy, because someone wasn’t hitting their shots when they should be. I’ve also become a target for a spectre, and let me tell you, I had an interesting experience in the shadowrealm for those brief moments.  
Right when I was shadowrealmed, I found myself in darkness, like I was dreaming, but conscious at the same time. It felt, rather nice to say the least. though I wasn’t able to control my body, I did hear through the darkness that christopherodd is being thankful that I was the one who was shadowrealmed and not someone like Tau. I took it as an offence at first, but realized it was for the best. Before I knew it, I was lying down where I was attacked by the spectre.  
In the end, we all made it out alive, including the VIP. Let me tell you something though, having to face an alien excluding the rulers who’s reflexes are as good as mine is scary. Not just for me, but for the entire squad as well. I Guess we were lucky that Andromedon Prime was a coward.  
While everyone else was in the infirmary, and Julian was waiting to be rebuilt, I continued to gather meat. We were in australia, so the climate and wildlife there was usual for my liking, but a suitable challenge to figure out the best way to deal with those factors. Christmas is right around the corner, so I should be gathering all the meat I can get.   
When I put the meat I salvaged back on the avenger after a hard day's work of hunting, I could’ve swore that the stockpile was bigger than I imagined. I was tired, so I figured my mind was playing tricks on me.  
With me using my vektor rifle to hunt down animals, Lily has told me that it will take longer for the AP rounds to be made. I thought it was ok, because I really don’t want to wait at the most many months before they were complete before I use it again except on missions. Besides, she can focus on her other projects that needs desperate attention, while I gather the supplies for our eventual feast.  
-Rodats, Out.  
-End Of Log.

 

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Firebrand's personal log - December 6th 2035 (Entry #42)

I really wish people would stop calling the Andromedon 'Andy'. It does not look like an Andy. I knew an Andy once, nothing like this brute. All that acid ... I'm really glad it drops off after a while, otherwise the Ranger would be full of holes. Heck, we might not even have an aircraft at some point.

We lost the Spark. Again. ADVENT really doesn't seem to like it. Funny, because their MECs, spitting image of our Spark. They basically stole the design. Bastards. Right. Well, the mission went rather well, all things considering. There was clearly room for improvement but ... damn, so many enemy pods for one little engineer. He must really be something special.

Anyway ... Retaliation mission. Let's go, team. Those civilians need our help.

Firebrand out.

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Damon Nights’ Audio Log: December 6th, 2035  
So the last mission that was assigned was a V.I.P. retrieval, I really find these missions boring for some reason. I’m still going to review the mission, I’ll just try to keep it short. I’ve said this before, but they come out long anyways, oh well. So, both the V.I.P. and another Advent defector joined the squad today. Rodats scouted ahead and found a few Advent soldiers, which were both killed off quickly. After that, Rodats moved ahead again, and found three Vipers and a strange looking Andromedan. I feel like the Celatid turret needs some V.I. tuning, it shot out at the Alien group when the squad was trying to hide, giving away their position. I was told it was another of those Prime Aliens, who seem to be just as aggressive as the Rulers, trying to counter our soldiers as soon as they possibly can, but instead of actually attacking them, this Andromedan runs away, so maybe it’s not all that aggressive. Two of the Vipers fell, but the Andromedan Prime was proving more resilient, standing up to multiple shots and firing off an acid grenade that dealt some pretty heavy damage. The last Viper pulled the Advent soldier to it, binding him and revealing him to yet another group of Advent and Aliens. When trying to deal the killing blow to the Andromedan, Numbers’ GREMLIN went off and damaged a completely different target, maybe it also needs some recalibration. The turret was killed, and a Spectre made a shadow copy of Rodats. Not a great mission start to be sure. I want to say the soldier performed admirably, but I’m afraid I have to say they missed too many easy shots. Julian’s body was once again destroyed, I can’t really feel too sorry for the tincan, I mean, we can always just rebuild him. I feel like I’m going to be seeing all of them in the Infirmary. Finally the Andromedan died, and the remaining Advent Shieldbearer was decimated. While making their way to the evac zone, the squad got the attention of two Advent troops. ‘Vagabond’ attempted to hit one of the Advent soldiers, but missed, gaining the attention of several Aliens. One of the Sectoids in the new group sent a beam of psionic energy at ‘Vagabond,’ which caused him to panic. Our trooper was mind controlled by the Sectoid. Luckily, the Sectoid was killed, along with the rest of the Alien group that was there. Everyone, besides Julian, made it back alive. Meaning we have another Advent to send to the Skirmishers.  
Got another Engineer from that, he was the V.I.P., I guess. Commander recommended we don’t put him to work, even though we have space for construction. Lucky us, the Skirmishers finished sabotaging the Advent facility, reducing Avatar progress before we all died a painful and miserable death. It also means supply drop pickup, which means paychecks! The Council wasn’t too pleased with our efforts, I can’t really argue, but it seems he’s been saying that a lot lately, so I haven’t been caring too much. We also got access to some new Covert Ops, the Commander choose the one that allowed us access to more resistance orders, they’re these things that help us in and out of the field, dunno why we can’t have access to them all the time, but I guess it doesn’t matter. We finished making contact in New Indonesia, finally, and after that we went to pick up supplies, but Tygan and his team finished their Bullpup research before we could collect them all. Finally did the Bio Faceless autopsy, which means my BioMedkit can finally be built, believe me, this will be a great boon to everyone! The Commander then chose the Archon autopsy, which will give us access to the technologies needed to create better swords and a new kind of sniper rifle. The Commander actually had my BioMedkit built, which I promise will only be useful! After that, we finished collecting all the supplies, and paychecks were handed out, and I know what I’m spending mine on. For a long time now, I’ve noticed that there is a 3D printer of sorts on the Avenger, which soldiers and employees alike use to create items they need, or clothes. Now I want to use it for two reasons, the first being I have been wearing the same clothes from my arrival, I’ve just been washing them every day, I would kill for new clothes, the second reason is I need parts for my GREMLIN which will be too hard to obtain in our current situation. I’m afraid to say creating everything I want will cost all of my funds! I guess that’s reasonable, but it’s also going to take several days to complete. I’ll be able to grab the new clothes I printed tomorrow, but I won’t be able to get the parts for a few weeks, probably not till the Christmas week. But who cares? I’m making progress! The Commander used almost all of our intel to make contact with New Australia, I’m fine with it, means access to more Black Sites, which when taken down means Advent’s no longer breathing down our backs.  
During the attempt to make contact, a resistance base in Eastern Africa was attacked. The Shadow Chamber stated that there weren’t that many types of lifeforms, but that there were several of them. Collux was sent out on this mission, so I wish him the best. Actually, I wish all the soldiers luck, the Commander is starting to become infamous for the many times he has “saved” a resistance base. I think I’ll finally get around to working on his heating while the mission is going on, I’ve been putting that off for way too long.

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War recount 39

This mission was not the easiest or quickest victory, but we'll take what we can get. The squad was assigned to evac a VIP engineer who was "interestingly" dressed, shall we say. The Andromedon Prime held the team back for quite a while before they were able to end it and its shell. Commander Odd seemed not to notice the AHAB that met up with the team until after he said it would be nice to have one. AHAB served well on the battlefield, even after he was put under mind control Odd wouldn't leave him and had Scarlett end the Sectoid doing it. Tau, the new grenadier, had a good start out the gate, but ended up getting a nice XCOM welcome with a ton of acid twice. Julian has sadly perished for the time being, but he is being rebuilt as I type this and should be back soon, snarky as ever. Thanks to the Skirmishers (who did get the most recent AHAB) we're off the clock for the Avatar project. I've met the Comms Officer for the Reaper and geez he doesn't shut up. His name is Khane and I see why they put him in a room with a radio instead of out into the field where he'd probably blow his cover talking, I don't remember what covert op we organised due to the headache the guy gave me. Upcoming mission is a retaliation and there is some rather interesting names coming out of the Shadow Chamber, should be fun, yeah fun, let’s go with fun.  
Signing out  
Jebediah Primm

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Derek Walters. Audio Log Entry 16: Oh, what the hell?!? Not again! I hate it when Julian is out of his body! I keep getting the distinct impression that he watches me and the others from within the system. I don't like it. One of these days, that damn robot will turn on us, and it will not be pretty. I decided to put duct tape over as many security cameras as I could find in the Lounge, Bar, and Crews Quarters. Shen and Tygan both think that I'm paranoid. They're probably right. Maybe he can access my logs? Yeah, best to play it safe. End Log

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DISPLAY LOG (ROV-R)  
<2353:49 28.11.2035> begin PML-042  
<2353:50 28.11.2035> Applying post-combat analysis…  
# Soldiers = 5/6  
#Avenger personnel (Engineer) = 1/0  
# [INVALID STRING ID] = 1/0  
<2353:54 28.11.2035> Medical alert: Chemical burns, Perforative trauma (gunshot)  
All Perforative trauma (gunshot) are deemed medical EMERGENCIES.  
REQUESTING URGENT MEDICAL ASSISTANCE for SGT. HUNTER ‘VAGABOND’ PETERSON  
CPT. JT ‘NUMBERS’ STEVENS

Location: SKYRANGER HELIPAD

COL. STEPHAN ‘TAU’ SHAS’LA

PLEASE REPORT TO THE INFIRMARY IMMEDIATELY

<2354:15 28.11.2035> ASSEMBLY REQUIRED for CAV. JULIAN ‘JULIAN’ JULIAN  
<2354:25 28.11.2035> ?STATUS CNR-Y  
<2354:31 28.11.2035> Syncing combat GREMLIN units…  
<0006:18 29.11.2035> Sync complete.  
CHANGELOG:  
Enemy class definitions verified to COMBAT PROTOCOL: CNR-Y [User = CPT. JT ‘NUMBERS’ STEVENS]  
<0006:25 29.11.2035> Play: Pressure on Julian - Blur


	45. Ep 44 - Operation God Tomb

**Ep 44-----Operation God Tomb------------------------------------------------------**  
Firebrand's personal log - December 13th 2035 (Entry #43)

I mean ... Sure, it wasn't a perfect mission. But it was the best one that the squad had for a while. The Hunter had a seriously bad day at the office, missing our Turret at pretty much point-blank range. It was actually laughable. There was no time for laughs on the ground though, as those Berserkers were really running around like crazy, killing civilians. In the end, we managed to rescue a good number of them. Civilians, not Berserkers. Why would we want to rescue those?

Anyway ... Avatar project alarm again. However, the Commander was faster and had already started to make contact with New Australia. Contact was made with about a day left on the doomsday clock. However, things got in motion really quickly and we got a solid fix on a set of coordinates produced by Shen and Tygan in that Chamber of theirs. Something very important is out there. Why else would these coordinates be extracted from a dead Codex brain?

I have to get the team there fast. As I told Central just minutes ago, I'll push the Ranger within reasonable limits, so the team has plenty of time to get the job done, well before the doomsday clock reaches zero.

Let's get the engines started. No time to waste.

Firebrand out.

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Journal Entry 23#   
Name: Will 'Billy-Terror' Blazkivitz   
Date: 8th December 2035   
Personal log: Avenger - Specialised Bond Training

Well, seems Kohlla and I have hit the pinnacle of the 'Bond Mate' program, not only can we advice one another in a tactical situation we've been trained in such a way to make such advisements twice as effective. Plus we've found a way to combine our marksmanship skills to shoot at the same target at the same time no matter the distance, surely something the Commander will take advantage off. I feel so in-tuned with my partner now, she brings wrath and rage upon our enemies while my cool awesome demeanor allows me to pick off targets I believe will slow down my main girl's destructive war path. We're a lethal pair and ADVENT, Alien or Elder better prayer when we're out on the field together hunting them down.

With that said and done, on a side note, I now plan to look for my partner's Christmas gift is coming along. Now I had brain stormed this question on what to get her... But since I had to spend twelve days training with her on the Avenger... Not like I can just walk into major cities for a gift... A puppy would've be cute but not like I can find a stray pup at a moment's notice or even smuggle one on board, Shen may like it but doubt Central or Tygan would allow it. Might have been an issue and I'd have barely over two weeks after training not to mention the whole AVATAR bullshit is happening again. 

Thankfully I had a plan but it needed something special...Then I had it, during breaks in between mine and Zoey's training I got Scarlet to help since she so good with psi energy stuff and check if my plan is possible. I won't going over the boring shit but magic reality bending psi stuff makes things very possible it seems. Right, plan is coming along just nicely, all I have to do to hope I'll survive till then. Signing off.

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Damon Nights’ Audio Log: December 13th, 2035  
On December 6th, a squad was sent out to defend a resistance base that was being attacked, the leader of that attack just so happened to be one of the Chosen. “Lucky” for us, the specific Chosen was the Hunter. Two Aliens were encountered by the squad, the first being a strange looking Viper, and the other being a massive, hulking Berserker. After dealing with the Viper, ‘Beast’ charged ahead to rescue the resistance agents, but got the attention of a few Aliens. All the Aliens guarding the first group were killed, and the squad managed to save two civilians, but also lost two. The resistance team was grateful, and told the squad where to find the next group of civilians. The other civilian group was being “guarded” by the Chosen and a few Aliens, making their rescue just a little bit harder. A few of the Aliens were killed, but even more came: two Mutons, two Vipers, and three more massive Berserkers. The Chosen was killed, but that still left the Berserker Primes. Three or four more civilians were lost to the Alien horde bearing down upon them. All the Aliens in that area were eventually killed, but we lost one final civilian.  
We kept making contact with New Australia, but during that time the final preparations of the Avatar project initiated. The Commander kept up with scanning until the Covert operatives came back, gaining XCOM a new resistance order with the Reaper faction. After that, he sent another group out with the Reapers to find more information on the Chosen Warlock. The Commander was hell bent on finishing this contact, so he kept scanning, which was interrupted again, this time by a project being completed, our advanced grenade designs. Yet again the Commander tried to make contact, and yet again he was interrupted. One of our excavation teams finished their work. The Commander then ordered construction of a laboratory to help with research. I sound like a broken record by now, but the Commander took up making contact again, but was interrupted, again. This time by Tygan, concluding the Archon autopsy, and recommending the Berserker autopsy, which went almost instantly. These gave us access to some cool new technologies, as well as another two upgrades to Julian, when he gets fixed. The Commander then ordered Tygan to focus on Plasma Lance research, they’re like, plasma sniper rifles.  
We finally managed to complete contact with New Australia, but the Avatar project was one day away from finishing. Instead of sending a squad out to destroy a Black Site, the Commander ordered a squad to investigate coordinates gained from the Codex’s brain. I wish them all luck. Oh yeah! I almost forgot about my 3D printed stuff. So it turns out the 3D printer only does clothes, which isn’t terrible, it means I was able to print off the T-shirts, jeans, socks, and undergarments I wanted, but because I thought I was printing off my GREMLIN parts as well, some of my items of apparel have images of GREMLINs on them. All my new clothing came out as straight black, because that was the base color I wanted my frame to be. I guess I can’t really complain, I wear a kevlar vest around all day, but then, most of the engineers do. I wonder if the rest of them custom made their armor as well? The final article of clothing I got was a jacket, for what little downtime I’m allotted, but somehow, the jacket was lined with ballistic fibers, meaning I have a kevlar sweatshirt in my wardrobe. I told Shen about my predicament, and she offered to look for a spare GREMLIN frame, but I have to come up with the internal mechanics on my own. And I need a V.I., but Shen told me to talk to ROV-R or Julian for help with that, she had too much to deal with to put away days on end to code for me, I’ll try asking one or both of them soon.  
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DISPLAY LOG (ROV-R)  
<0923:35 06.12.2035> begin PML-043  
<0923:36 06.12.2035> Initializing post-mission scan…  
<0923:41 06.12.2035> # Soldiers = 6/6  
Medical alert: Chemical burns

CPT. MICHAEL ‘DOC’ DESHONG  
PLEASE REPORT TO THE INFIRMARY IMMEDIATELY

<0923:55 06.12.2035> Inventory update: + Salvage

Good morning, Administrator LILY SHEN  
<0925:02 06.12.2035> Avenger HR directory updated to include 8 ‘GUEST’ Users.  
GUEST Users may access all Soldier and common areas.  
GUEST permissions expire in 47 hours, 59 minutes and 59 seconds following activation and are subject to renewal upon Administrator level discretion.

<0947:23 06.12.2035> User permissions updated.

Access to the TRAINING CENTRE is now forbidden to GUEST users.

CENTRAL OFFICER BRADFORD advises all visitors that XCOM will assume no responsibility for any damage, injuries, psychological harm, or death resulting from unnecessary interruption of COL. ZOEY ‘KOHLLA’ DURAND’s and CPT. WILL ‘BILLYTERROR’ BLAZKIVITZ’s bonding exercises.

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Log - Alex "Rodats" Deathscope: Entry 29.  
December 6, 2035.  
Operation: N/A  
Apparently we’ve been seeing a bunch of Prime aliens lately, and they could be any alien type. From archons, to berserkers. The hunter also showed up explicitly on time. I always wanted to see what his skills are in person, but for now, i’m stuck watching them from the mission feeds.

Anyway, the mission has gone pretty smooth. Though there were many casualties for the innocents, but that’s what they get for not trying to run away from the aliens. I wonder why they choose not to, those idiotic people. Though their soldiers were a big help for the squad, since they did weaken the assault force by the time the squad showed up.

We went to Africa for only that mission, but I managed to sneak off the Avenger before the squad came back and managed to kill a couple of animals there, and any aliens that were on my temporary hunting grounds. Some of them were chrysalids, so now I have enough of my own chryssalid corpses to make a meal fit for more than 20 people. Though I had to take short breaks hauling my kills on the avenger.

My stockpile must be huge at this point. Enough meat to last for days if everyone on the avenger only eats from it. I’m starting to wonder if anyone else has discovered it yet and started adding their own meats to it.. Nonetheless, I feel that this Christmas feast will be one of the greatest feasts that will be known to man, women, and uh.. Skirmishers, let’s stick with that. Assuming that I won’t be the only person contributing to preparing it. Though you’ll never know, I would imagine Zoey slicing the roast with her gauntlets, and the table as well. That would be hilarious to watch.   
-Rodats, Out.

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War recount 40

The retaliation mission went well, even in the face of those Fire starter Primes the squad was able to take them down. The Hunter showed up, but with the right use of explosives he was gone quickly. The real terror of the mission was all the Primes that kept showing up, the resistance played an important role in this victory scoring enough kills in the background to thin the ranks of Advent enough for the team to finish them off. The camp was saved and everyone was moved to another location that should be more secure where they should be able to bury their dead and live in peace. We're back on the Avatar clock again and with a day left till imminent death or whatever happens and the Commander has a team checking out the coordinates that the Codex brain left. I did talk with Khane (the Reapers Comms Officer) for another covert op on hunting the Warlock and he seemed to be more professional once the Warlocks name was thrown in the mix. I'm not the greatest when it comes to reading people especially when they're miles away from me and we're speaking over a radio, but he seems to want him dead bad, like he killed my whole family bad. That's all though on current news though.  
Signing out  
Jebediah Primm

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Derek Walters. Audio Log Entry 17: Advent has unleashed more of its monstrosities. And we responded. I was feeling hopeless. After all of the death and sorrow witnessed, I and many around felt they should give up. I had come to a revelation only a few days ago: That we can't let ourselves fall victim to despair, and let it control us. And this, this heroic display is all the convincing I need that I am right. This haven was defended to the last man. Tooth and nail. Every time another man or woman fell to the onslaught in defense of their home, I was reminded of how the resistance, the Commander, the soldiers, and myself, have lasted this long. And though our losses were many, the haven still stands. XCOM still stands. We still stand. And at this rate, that's more than I could ask for. Now, allow me to drop the philosophy for a bit, and try to relax. Bradford knows about the cameras. He also thinks I'm paranoid. Go freaking figure. Julian is pissed because he knows both what I did and why I did it. I hope he or Shen don't try to pull anything on me while I'm unaware. Best to avoid eye contact. Makes things less awkward. Oh well. Walters out. End Log

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XCOM database  
Shen’s system Cloud  
Julians log  
log 5  
Beginning live recording

Here again here again, as though being dead three times wasn't bad enough Advent had to go ahead and make it a fourth, one day, when I have plasma, there will be little Advent can do to stop me taking pieces out of their hides. I know trophies aren’t allowed outside of the main hall but I’m sure an Advent skin suit couldn't hurt if it’s said for the sake of research. Alas for now however I must remain here, alone, with only bare bone staff and the recording for company. Not that I truly mind, as much as I enjoy killing perhaps it will be nice to be alone for awhile and get in touch with my thoughts, get some hacking done in here where that blasted gremlin can't reach me. I may be a part of this organization now, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't know as much about them as possible. For example, the comms officer Jebediah has an interest in some form of media I don't understand, very colorful. Not the best secret but good enough for now. In other news just before the Chosen decided to rear its ugly head and start a mission today, the commander came around and thanked those of us keeping logs for the effort and perseverance we put into preserving the history of the war and XCOM for any future generations, resisting or otherwise. It was a small thing really, words nothing more, yet I enjoyed the gesture nonetheless, despite their inferiority the fleshlings are nothing if not entertaining, now for the sake of the record, onto the mission. Thanks to my new up link into the main system and some messing about in the main data-logs, I can now watch the missions even if I’m stuck in this box, and this one was phenomenal. My teammates made the aliens pay in blood and even wiped out that blasted Chosen and by a mundane grenade no less. Despite his claims to be superior I bet I could crack him open with the same ease as any of the advent grunts with the right tools. The rest of the alien meet sacks felt little to no fight in them and even the smaller grunts of the "resistance" were able to deal significant chunks of damage against them. All in all a wonderful mission. And now, while the fleshies are celebrating, I have more secrets to find. Who to check out first, let’s say anyone but Tygan. No more burgers please.

Julian signing off  
Log end


	46. Ep 45 - Operation Wailing Jester

**Ep 45-----Operation Wailing Jester------------------------------------------------------**

Log 23: Zoey “Kohlla” Durand  
13/12/2035  
\--- Post-Mission  
Today the target of our operation was the ADVENT base located at the co-ordinates provided to us by hacking into one of the Codex “brains”. As we rode out in the Skyranger, I could feel a massive psionic presence, much like I had when we first discovered Vahlen’s pets. The air was teeming with particles of psionic energy that drifted on the wind, something that I’ve never seen before. We deployed under the cover of night, and used it to keep ourselves concealed from our targets - among the number of which was a pair of “Mamba” Vipers, and another Archon Prime. Jenny led the spearhead of the attack with a shot from her bolt caster. I followed suit, charging right at the Archon Prime and tearing into it. The creature writhed with agony as I absorbed said emotion into myself, though it reacted with an attack. The shot missed, leaving the Archon open to a second strike with my blades. I was fueled by the anger from being attacked and eagerly ripped it apart, though the alien responded in kind and hit me with a plasma blast. Doc shredded the Archon with a volley of shots from his cannon, exposing it to another attack at my hands - one which this time, drew a kill. The creature squirmed about on my blades as I extinguished it’s life and absorbed it’s pain, before it collapsed to the ground, dead. Will and the squad dealt with the remaining Mambas, at which point the cowardly Warlock showed his face. He summoned a slew of Psionic Zombies to our location, though we ended their existences in mere moments.

Rather than go to the Warlock, we waited in an attempt to try and draw him out, moving up slowly and sticking to the boundaries of the AO. Rather than face us directly, the Warlock sent a pair of Codices and a Chryssalid after us, though the former were slain just as quickly as the zombies had been - no thanks to my own efforts. They were simply too far away for me to be accurate with my autopistol. I did however, manage to slay one of the Spectral zombies sent after us by the Warlock, and as a being of pure psionic energy, it’s death nourished me with a rush of Focus energy that empowered my Shard Gauntlets to their full potential. With the second wave of zombies dispatched, we met another pair of Codices in the field of combat, and I was able to deliver the finishing strike upon one of them, following a foolish teleport right into our ranks. It fell within moments of meeting my blades, and as a being composed of machinery, it didn’t even feel the pain of it’s death. The Warlock churned out wave after wave of Spectral Zombies to attack us, though they were no issue. As the Commander put it himself, “It was like cutting through dust”. A single slash of my blades turned the beings to nothingness. 

As we drew closer, the Warlock finally showed himself, running out from his hiding spot whilst spouting his gospel about how ADVENT was superior, for they had the Elders on their side. He summoned a pair of Priests to his aid, and my rage flared as I saw their “pure” white bodies coalesce into sight on the battlefield. I watched as the Warlock channeled his psionic energies into a blast of energy that struck myself and Vintermorgon, and it sent me into a haze. My vision grew black, though I was fortunate enough not ot be the victim of another mind control. Vagabond awoke me from my stupor, and to say I was angry would be an understatement. My mind raced with thoughts only of revenge, and the Commander didn’t even have to say a word before I charged one of the Priests, cleaving away at it. It’s agony did little to quench my bloodlust, and it erected a sustaining sphere around itself to try and escape - but I wasn’t going to let it. In a single moment, the shielding flickered and dissipated, and then the Priest’s life-force did too - as it was claimed by me and my blades. Suddenly there was a mass psionic fluctuation, as the psionic gate exploded to life. A Gatekeeper emerged, but it brought more than that. A handful of Chryssalids, and their “Queen” erupted from the ground, rushing at us. One drew blood against Vagabond, splattering him with it’s poison as the second Priest emerged from his safety bubble. Seeing my ally in trouble, I burst into action, ripping apart the Chryssalid and sending forth a surge of energy that killed off the remaining Priest. The agonies of both was delicious, but that of the Priest far outweighed the Chryssalid’s, though the latter survived. Explosion after explosion rocked the battleground as Chryssalids to the left and right of me were eviscerated by a volley of grenades, and Will fired off a shot that tore another to pieces. Out of the corner of my eye, the Chryssalid closest to me reared back to try and strike at me, though it was too slow to evade being impaled on both of my blades. Out of nowhere, the Gatekeeper fired a plasma burst right through Admiral, and in the same moment Will and Vintermorgon were thrown into a haze by another of the Warlock’s tricks. My hatred flared as I seethed with anger, and whilst I burned to get my revenge on the Warlock for taking ahold of my mind, but the Commander directed my fury elsewhere. I almost ignored his orders, though I followed them anyway - and in mere moments the Warlock was dead. 

We weren’t given the luxury of a reprieve however, a truth that I was quickly forced to face as my mind was ravaged by psionic energy. The Gatekeeper had found us, and we finally found out what it looked like inside - when it wasn’t a corpse anyway. It’s plating retracted back and a mass of tentacles emerged, and I found that it’s psionic resonance was somehow even more potent than it had been before. All around us, the corpses of the dead rose from the ground, revived as twisted abominations. My mind was consumed by thoughts of destruction, and the Gatekeeper was my focus. My blades ripped and tore at it’s casing, stabbing at the creature inside and causing it to close up in fear - but I wasn’t done yet. Blazkivitz loosed a sniper shot upon the Gatekeeper, and I followed suit with a volley of rounds from my autopistol. Still the Gatekeeper remained, and I refused to let such an abomination live. It opened up once more, preparing to weave it’s psionic powers to use in some twisted, malevolent way, but it didn’t get much further. I plunged my Shard Gauntlets deep into the creature, piercing right through it’s massive, unblinking eye, tearing into it’s brain. All of it’s fear, all of it’s pain was drawn in through my blades, and I eagerly drunk in every second of it’s agony. The Gatekeeper’s form shattered into splinters, and my own body was ravaged by the resulting blast, but I didn’t care. My body had been shot, battered and burned, but that meant little to me. The Commander ordered me to be healed, and so I did as ordered. 

With no other enemies left to face, our only remaining targets were the small horde of Chryssalids that had begun to form, though they came to us. I weaved my powers into the corporeal form of a Ghost, with the purpose of scouting and drawing fire. We held our ground, and let our foes come to us, and one by one we thinned the herd. Celly weakened the Chryssalid Queen, leaving her open to an attack at the blades of my Ghost, which tore the damn bug apart - in addition to the many of it’s spawn that followed. Once we had culled the horde, only a few stragglers remained, hiding beneath the crust of the ground in fear. We hunted them down of course, leaving no survivors, only the Psionic Gate. We hauled it back on the Skyranger, and even though it is inactive it still makes me uneasy. Psionic technology? I know that JULIAN and the GREMLINs are all sentient, and the Gatekeeper is bio-mechanical, but Non-Sentient Psionic technology? That is definitely cause for concern.

On another note, following my bond training with Blazkivitz, I’m starting to suspect he’s thinking of getting me something for Christmas. I don’t know what I should get him…

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Journal Entry 24#   
Name: Will 'Billy-Terror' Blazkivitz   
Date: 14th December 2035   
Operation: Wailing Jester

I have to say it, I just have too, for one of the key turning points XCOM needed to do to win back our planet, this op was FUBAR and then turned into one of the most boring missions I've ever had the pleasure of doing. Even my main girl Kohlla couldn't make the boring shit tolerable as she too thought it was quite crap, that or she may have been talking about the numerous wounds she had gotten... We worked with Chill, Doc, Addy and Vagabond looking for some super important weird freaky shit and here's what happened.

We drop down and I see this weird purple stuff in the air but Kohlla pays no mind racing ahead behind cactus before spying our first contacts, an Archon Prime and two Mambas'. The rest of the squad including myself decided to set up an ambush however we all hear screeching in the distance, fucking Chrysalids... We were warned they would be scuttling about, could be a whole nest here.

Commander tells me to set up a Killzone and as set my sights Addy opens with the first shot hitting the Archon like a truck, said Alien freak returns fire but thanks to yours truly my shot gets in first and makes the bastard miss. Both Mambas' run out of my Killzone dodging my sights as Kohlla takes on the Archon Prime. My partner gets two slashes in as the Archon primes shot it just misses my partner, but as Doc provides fire support it pisses the Archon just enough to seriously wound my partner. Chill runs up trying to shock the arsehole but misses then tells Kohlla to go for the killing blow to which she gladly puts down the freak. All while Vagabond grazes a Mamba with his plasma shotgun.

Then someone else came to the party, THE Warlock, fan-fucking-tastic. Well, I ignored his religious decrees and Jehovah's witness bullshit again as I confused on my partner who parried both the Mamba shots. Vagabond charged one snake with his sword killing it while Doc and I killed the other Mamba with my expert shot and his spray of fire. Then came the first boring part of the mission. The Commander wanted us to play it safe not walking out into a Chrysalid hive, while I agree couldn't the people with melee weapon and skills just take lead while I sat in the back giving them covering fire along with Addy and Doc? 

The only interesting thing to happen between avoiding Chrysalids was either gunning down the suicide psi energy zombie The Warlock made or the occasional Codex couple that walked into our slow crawling overwatch trap. Needless to say, we ended up at a cliff looking out to see which was 'behind' out objective. Oh and I earn a Major ranking, to which I heard our leader stating I'm a Major pain in the arse and Addy seems to agree making the others laugh. Well good, I like being a pain in the arse. Makes things fun on that flying base we call a home, sir. By the way, if you find Sectoid's severed head in your bed in your living quarters. That's just me being funny, sir. 

Well anyway, back to the actual interesting crap now. The Warlock comes to us saying something about some artefact and that we're stupid and blah blah. He summons his Priests which half the squad wounds seriously with overwatch shots anyway before the bastard throws his psi screeches hitting Kohlla and Chill but Vagabond gets them both it. 

Kohlla swings at one Priest forcing him to bubble up as Vagabond charges at the other forcing him into his sustain bubble as well after a sword slash. Everyone else grabs cover and Doc deploys the turret but that turns out to be a shit life choice. The thing reveals our objective but then alerts the guard dogs. Out of this purple gateway came a Gatekeeper, cute, now I know why their named that. Then a pack of Chrysalids with a fucking a Queen, this place was a bloody hive!

The turret manages to wound The Warlock as it got swarmed by bugs, one bug actually sneaks up on Vagabond and slashes at him in the back. The Turret actually tanks a Gatekeeper shot, man that blast tore it up but the thing played a great distraction. Meanwhile, Kohlla blocks one of the Priest's shots as he must've known what was gonna happen before my partner kills the other Priest beside her as the bubble popped. The Warlock saw our turret and tried to control it but luckily for us, the purple bastard failed. Our time to strike now.

As Addy healed up Vagabond and the turret, Kohlla attacks the Chrysalid that struck Vagabond and as her blade cut into its carapace her energy wave passed through Vagabond harmlessly but destroyed the one living Priest. I swiftly take out my pistol and gun down one of the bugs since it was the weakest of the lot making my plasma pistol shot a perfect use. Chill notices the turret move and then throws an acid bomb at the other two big ones and tries to finish one off with gunfire and a shock whip. Doc in the meanwhile fires an acid bomb melting The Warlock's armour and some Chrysalids at the same time. Vagabond blows up the two big Chrysalids in view killing over and I finish off the other with a clean shot to the thorax or whatever all while the turret places being an annoyance.

As Kohlla kills the Chrysalid besides her Addy takes one of the Gatekeeper shots and it nearly kills her, while this happened the Warlock comes to us and I can't remember much as things went dark for a little while, bastard did something to me... but then I feel a tingle and a flash of blue light and before I know it, I see Doc helping Chill before he shoots a frost bomb as a now flanked Warlock. No idea what happened but Vagabond, Chill and I gun the fucker down with our shots in that order. With him gone, just another bunch of shit heads to deal with. The Gatekeeper come sin and opens it's ball revealing a huge brain and tentacle before throwing psi-bomb at us, wounding some of us and making zombies. The team in response throw everything at the ball but after a few misses and hits, we just manage to pull it off.

Now with that done I'm going to skip to the end because you know why, besides securing the objective the rest of the mission was a bug hunt. We spend a lot of time shooting down Chrysalids as they came around a corner covered in Acid while the turret killed the Queen, afterwards, we scoured the map hunting for the bastards. We came back with the objective and I pulled my partner into the medical deck. Guess she'll spend Christmas in bed, speaking off which... Need to check on something. Signing off.

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Personal Log #12, Major Jenny Fleet - December 14, 2035

It's been a couple months since I've done a log. A lot has happened. The Assassin assaulted the Avenger which...that was a tough mission, and we've lost a couple more soldiers in Rumble and Julian once again. A lot of missions have been pretty tough and people are pretty jagged and worn down right now.

This mission did not help.

Sixty-one aliens. SIXTY-ONE! Including one of those prime aliens, a god damn Chryssalid Queen and 32 other Chryssalids. And a Gatekeeper. Oh, did I mention that the Warlock Chosen showed up as well throwing spectral zombies out at us all over the place?

I'd recount a play-by-play but I think it'd be easier to write a book. Everyone killed it (literally and figuratively) out there, though. Vintermorgon is a machine, killing 17 aliens while Kohlla wasn't far behind with 11 kills.

Personally, I had 5 kills, which wasn't bad, but I wasn't able to help quite as much as I would have liked since I was having to go around healing everyone. We brought these new biomedkits, which together with our standard gremlin medkit, gave us six medkits, and I used each and every one of them.

It also didn't help that I missed four overwatch shots, although a lot of them were kinda tough, and I'm still getting used to this boltcaster thing. Huntsman and Numbers have had quite a bit of experience with it but this was my first time out with it. I don't like that you have to reload it after only one shot, but god does it pack a punch.

We also just got word that an alien UFO is now tracking us, which is keeping everyone on edge, and we're also flying toward India because we got an alarm for another guerrilla ops mission there. Missions on back-to-back days is the last thing we need right now. Too bad I can't go out, but the doctors are telling me I'm probably going to be out for a couple of weeks after that Gatekeeper pegged me hard. Trust me, you don't want to be hit with a Gatekeeper beam.

I guess I should throw out that I got promoted to Major as well after that Avenger assault mission. Just about everyone else got a promotion to Major on this past mission too. BillyTerror, Vintermorgon, and Doc all got promoted and deservedly so.

Some of us have also been talking about what to do for Christmas now that it's less than two weeks away. I think I heard someone joke before this mission that Rodats could show us how to roast some chryssalids but at this point I'm not sure anyone would want to bring it up lest someone actually take the suggestion seriously after we had to haul back 33 chryssalid bodies back with us in the Skyranger.

Maybe while we're in India someone can pick up some curry and rice that some of the locals still illicitly grow and make. Maybe hunt a gaur or two.

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\- Recording Starting –

Hunter Peterson's log #6

I am exhausted. That was the most running I’ve done in a long time. We went to investigate some coordinates they ripped out of the Codex's brain. Quite the mission. A prime Archon, Chryssalids all over the place, a Gatekeeper, Psionic Zombies, oh and the Warlock himself. Which I am proud to say, he limped home after our encounter. Total baddies killed between our squad? 61. That's insane. And we didn't lose anyone. The Chryssalid Queen was just poppin' those suckers out left and right. Got 5 kills myself.

We took out the Prime Archon pretty well though. He didn't get to do a lot of damage. Honestly, the mission wasn't as hard as it was annoying. As we made our way though, the Warlock was constantly harassing us with these stupid Psi Zombies. Then once we got in range to deal with him, we were getting harassed by Chrssalids. Then a Gatekeeper came through the weird portal thing we found, and we dealt with that too. In the end, we froze and shattered the Warlock, his bits teleported away to be glued back together by their "Elder Ones" killed the Gatekeeper, killed the Chryssalid Queen, and then we ran all over the damn place to finish off the straggling Chryssalids. I swear, Bradford is way too specific when it comes to giving us the mission clear. If he were anymore careful, he'd be coming out with us just to check the pulse of every body on the field. We eventually cleared it all out, and got home. Just to be informed that they have a UFO hunting us. Guess the Warlock is upset with the results of that mission.

Well, I’ll be taking time off from the fight. Again. Another mission, another wound. A Chryssalid nicked me in the side. Oh, I was promoted again too. I'm a "Lieutenant" now. Woohoo.

\- Recording Ending -

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Firebrand's personal log - December 14th 2035 (Entry #44)

I am angry. Why? I'll tell you ... 33 Chryssalid corpses stuffed on board. THIRTY-THREE. All of them making a major sludge fest from their wounds and in my cargo hold. I mean ... If someone doesn't turn up to help me clean up after such missions, Central will have to find another pilot for this thing. Because I can't work like this. I just cannot.

Not to mention I had about half-hour for the squad to clean up all those goddamn bugs scattered all over the AO. It was the Loudmouth's fault. If he wouldn't have camped behind the gate, the mission might've been a lot more straightforward. Flying around for half-hour, pretty much waiting and waiting and waiting ... Yeah, that didn't make me happy either, that's for sure.

And I wasn't even done to properly clean up the cargo hold, when another mission came up. New India, some relay destruction objective. I can't really tell the team 'Don't go on board yet, there's still Chryssalid sludge on the floor and walls'. They'll just have to deal with it, I guess. Sorry, Central. Find me someone to help me with clean-ups and I'll finish faster. Deal?

Firebrand out.

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DISPLAY LOG (ROV-R)  
<1149:45 13.12.2035> begin PML-044  
<1149:47 13.12.2035> Applying post-combat analysis…  
<1149:54 13.12.2035> Medical alert: Psionic, Shrapnel, Concussion  
REQUESTING URGENT MEDICAL ASSISTANCE for COL. ZOEY ‘KOHLLA’ DURAND  
MAJ. JENNEY ‘THE ADMIRAL’ FLEET

Location: SKYRANGER HELIPAD

<0003:22 14.12.2035> [UPDATE] Medical alert: Psionic, Shrapnel, Concussion, Exhaustion  
REQUESTING ADDITIONAL MEDICAL ASSISTANCE for LT. HUNTER ‘VAGABOND’ PETERSON  
MAJ. MICHAEL ‘DOC’ DESHONG

<0012:29 14.12.2035> [UPDATE] Due to unforeseen delays in completing Operation WAILING JESTER, meals and refreshments will be brought to the SKYRANGER HELIPAD for all medical and logistics personnel on standby.  
<0027:30 14.12.2035> [UPDATE] Due to additional delays in completing Operation WAILING JESTER, Central Officer Bradford will formalize all soldier promotions at 1400hrs after lunch break today [14.12.2035].  
<0042:31 14.12.2035> [UPDATE] Due to additional delays in completing Operation WAILING JESTER, the coffee machine has been refilled and temporarily moved from the Avenger can'tEEN to the SKYRANGER HELIPAD.  
<0057:32 14.12.2035> [UPDATE] Due to additional delays in completing Operation WAILING JESTER, User RICHARD TYGAN requests that all soldiers not currently recovering in the Infirmary are to report to the LOADING DECK to assist in unloading the Skyranger once the helipad has been lowered. The sooner we finish this, the sooner everyone gets to go to bed, people!  
<0059:16 14.12.2035> [UPDATE] Firebrand has landed. Finally.  
<0059:50 14.12.2035> Paging LT. ALEX ‘RODATS’ DEATHSCOPE to the SKYRANGER HELIPAD.   
FIREBRAND has requested clean up assistance for the SKYRANGER CARGO BAY. Archived information from the Avenger database points to Chryssalid corpses as a source of nutrition for members of the Reaper faction.   
We hope you have a big appetite.  
<0100:06 14.12.2035> Play: For the Longest Time – Billy Joel

 

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War recount 41

The squad went out to the coordinates that Tygan and Shen found in the Codex brain and it took quite a while, practically just as long as the defense against the Assassin. The Warlock showed his ugly mug again and just like his siblings/cousins/frenemies he never shut up during the whole thing. Commander Odd decided that he'd rather flank and isolate him rather than take on everything, so they did. Slogging through Advent and Spectral Zombies to do as they were told, eventually the fight broke out but it wasn't long before every other thing in the immediate area joined in to protect their Chosen master. The team went through the meat grinder and came right back with a load of promotions to boast about. There was a load of Chryssalids from the mission and the hunt that came after, rumor has it that and whatever else we can find is gonna be whats for Christmas, at least if we have Christmas. The psionic gate the team grabbed has slowed the aliens Avatar Project down enough that we're off the clock, but out of the frying pan and into the fire as they say since we're being followed by a UFO. Currently we just ran half way across the globe, past the UFO, just to put some distance between us and it. Though it'll find us at some point, Bradford made sure we knew that for when it happens so we non-combatives stay in our quarters and wait. I can't help but feel like that order was for me so I actually listen to him next time he says to get out of the Bridge during an attack. Well that's the current news on the Avenger, for now at least.  
Signing out  
Jebediah Primm

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Derek Walters. Audio Log Entry 16: Despite my demeanor having generally improved, there is still an abundance of irritations. I feel petty saying this, but the stuff aboard this ship has really started to mount up like you'd never believe! I almost forgot about the stench of corpses in the lab! I appreciate making the most of our fallen enemies, but this is getting out of hand! The alien fluids have actually started forming puddles on the Lab floor! I swear to God, if Tygan doesn't clean out, he's gonna find a slab of Muton meat in his next Advent Burger! Speaking of devouring our deceased foes, Rodats claimed he knows some recipes using alien parts. He seems most fond of a hard liquor made with Chrysallid venom, and a fillet-o-viper. Which is helpful, seeing as we pulled in a crap ton of Chrysallid corpses after the last mission. I expect the Bar to remain stocked and covered in venom puddles in the following days. It's an appreciable, if somewhat inappropriate moment of levity. Research has been steady. Team has been rather proud of it. Led us straight to some portal thing. We'll be obsessing over this one for a while. Walters out. End Log

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Damon Nights’ Audio Log: December 14th, 2035  
December 13th was a pretty special day. The mission was to investigate the coordinates that were gleaned from the Codex brain that Shen and Tygan were working on. One of the first Alien groups to be found contained one of those damnable Primes, an Archon this time. I guessed he sensed a disturbance in the force of psionics, because as soon as the Archon Prime died the Warlock decided to show up. His actions were to be expected, staying at the back and sending Spectral Zombies towards the squad. After the Zombies and the remaining Aliens were killed, the squad continued moving forward. After a little bit of walking, a Codex was encountered, and killed, the Warlock also summoned a few more Zombies that were finished off with relative ease. Another Codex showed up, but this one didn’t die as easily. Yet again, more Zombies, because the Warlock probably isn’t as powerful as he claims to be. After awhile of moving up, the squad encountered a Chryssalid, which was killed off really quickly, and then, big surprise, the Warlock summoned some Zombies. More marching, followed by more waiting, finally followed by even more zombies. Noticing a pattern here? Yeah, I thought so. Those three actions pretty much sum up the entire mission. Once the Warlock was found, he decided to switch it up a bit by summoning some Priests, and firing a blast of psionic energy which jumped from Wintermorgon to Kohlla, dazing them both. Well, the Celatid turret was sent out in hopes of distracting the Warlock, but instead it brought a Gatekeeper and several massive Chryssalids directly to the squad. Almost all of the Chryssalids charged the turret, bringing close to death, but Jenny healed it so that it could tank more damage. The tide began to turn though, the squad was able to wipe the floor with all the nearby Chryssalids, but Jenny was hit pretty hard by the Gatekeeper, and Wintermorgon and Blazkivitz were dazed by the Warlock. Eventually, the Warlock fell, giving the squad the tiniest bit of breathing room. After the Gatekeeper died, the only major threat remaining was that massive Chryssalid, which apparently just kept popping out babies the entire fight. For the longest time, the squad just sat there, using their Overwatch shots to hit every Chryssalid that came near them. Kohlla’s ghost was able to finish the queen off once and for all, and the rest of the Chryssalids that were hunted down and killed. Finally, the portal was able to be recovered, for what it was worth.  
That gate we picked up was apparently a major item when it came to the Avatar project, severely reducing their progress, not as much as I would like, but as I seem to be saying more often, it gives us some breathing room. Apparently a U.F.O. was sent after the Avenger in hopes of taking us down, glad to know that makes at least four things out there that can take down our ship. Oh yeah, so it turns out there were multiple 3D printers on the ship, I was just never told this. Good news is I’ll be able to print off all my parts, bad news is it will take a hell of a long time, and I’ll be pretty close to broke afterwards, but I feel this will be worth it.  
The Commander tried searching the location of an alleged firefight to recruit a potential soldier there, but was intercepted by the option for a new Guerilla Op. He ended up choosing the Op that countered a hidden Dark Event, with a reward of intel, only because we were apparently low on intel. I wish all of the current operatives the best of luck.

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Reapers Log: 31  
December 14, 2035.  
Operation: N/A  
Today is a rather unusual day, mostly because the next mission site was located (it seems) in the middle of nowhere. It was a mission that was suppose to draw back the countdown towards advent armageddon. When the squad was deployed, there was alien patrols and chrysalids scattered everywhere. Not wanting to draw too much attention to the squad, odd had the team stick the edges of the wilderness. They only had to deal with a couple of advent grunt, some tough aliens and a couple chrysalids. While they were creeping along the wilderness, the warlock shown up to cause some mayhem, as he sent psionic zombies against them as they pushed through the wilderness, but the squad found where he was hiding eventually, near this big psionic portal surrounded by alien-like crystals. The warlock engaged, and the squad had to fight defensively to avoid getting the attention of others nearby. Unfortunately, these gigantic chrysalids shown up out of nowhere, and they engaged on the squad.

It was a tough battle, but they all managed to take down the warlock and the chrysalids that spawned even more of it’s own breed somehow. With the portal secured, and the warlock slain for now, the squad went to hunt the rest of the patrols and chrysalids, and gone home with a huge trinket to bring with them. I’m glad no one died this time, there were some close calls.

I am almost done gathering the supplies for the christmas feast that I plan to put on. To be honest, I never thought I would ever get bored from hunting. Then again, it was always at the same place, and the creatures that I had to hunt for were more cunning than the ones not from this continent. Nonetheless, I got what I needed, all I need to do now is wait for christmas, and with the help of the chefs on board the avenger, and my knowledge about cooking from my years living off of scraps and turning anything into a tasty treat, this is going to blow everyone's minds away.  
-Rodats, Out.

-End Of Log.


	47. Ep 46 - Operation Knife Hand

**Ep 46-----Operation Knife Hand----------------------------------------------------------**  
Journal Entry 25#   
Name: Will 'Billy-Terror' Blazkivitz   
Date: 14th December 2035   
Operation: Knife Hand

Two missions the same day, guess ADVENT didn't like us taking their psionic gate artefact or the Commander didn't like me bad mouthing his boring tactics for last mission, whatever. Working with Numbers, Eternal, Beast, Rodats and the newest guy on the team, Tau. Now, where had I heard of that before? Ahh whatever, aside from a strange call sign seemed an OK kinda guy. Mission was to destroy an Alien Relay, good, got some frustration to vent out on these bastards for the last mission. This one dedicated to you partner.

We drop down into the subway tunnels of an old abandoned city, a step up from sewers for sure, we stick together pushing up towards a door before we spy a patrol made up of a Spectre and a new fire Viper variant, an Inferno Viper. Well, I get the first shot on the Spectre hitting him within the controller ports before decides to destroy these two, he literally zip hooks towards the damaged Spectre killing it with a slash before zapping the Inferno Viper and then charging it only to gut it dead. Two down already and the rest stack up at some doors. 

Meanwhile, Rodats spies two more contacts consisting of a Boa and an ADVENT Striker who both come into our room receiving overwatch fire., Tau misses but both Numbers and Rodats get a hit in as our Reaper was found by the two stumbling past our teammate Eternal runs up and finishes the Boa with his sword while Rodats flanks the Striker but I hear the bastard shoot Rodats just before our Reaper gets a shot in himself. Looks like ADVENT stepped up their game, well, I put a stop to that by flanking the bastard and put him down with a fiery plasma pistol shot. With those down the rest of the team waited to see if anymore stumbled in, when non came Numbers kicked down the door.

Tau runs in first and finds an ADVENT Duelist, Purifier and Heavy MEC. Beast comes to aid the team shooting up the Heavy MEC as Tau launches an acid bomb at it and the duelist splashing both, I, however, looked right at the robot and shut it down with one more shot from my gauss rifle. Eternal sets up an overwatch behind Tau and Numbers joins in but not before thing his bot to give Tau some aid avoiding weapons fire. Rodats decide to cloak himself in shadow as the enemy returned fire and returned fire they did. 

Tau was shot at by the duelist five times with three of those shots hitting him before the Purifier came up dodging Eternal's plasma shotgun blast then set Tau on fire. Our wounded teammate thankfully pulls back to put out the fire as Numbers spies an ADVENT Sniper walking by and tries to put him down, but his missed shot only revealed us to him and another Purifier. What a shit show this turned out to be.

Numbers patches up Tau as Rodats runs up before tossing out his claymore between the duelist and the second Purifier, meanwhile, Tau decides to drop a frost bomb on the original Purifier before tossing out the turret buddy to help draw fire as well as lay down some covering fire. Beast at this moment shoots Rodat's claymore killing the duelist and exposes the second Purifier before he puts him down then proceeds to pull the Sniper hiding in the back in our little formation. Like a boss. Eternal doesn't waste this chance as he gets right next to the surprised Sniper and blows him away as Beast slashes at him, I saw his blood splash all over Number's pants and the Specialist looked displeased. Meanwhile, the turret at this point looks to the frozen Purifier and blows it up by shooting its fuel tanks twice. That down we push up to the objective.

I get into position to take a shot on the relay as Rodats plays as my spotter revealing some vipers hidden in the shadows, after I take my first shot on the relay Numbers spies the Viper King I've heard much about and puts it down before it even notices us. Well, that's one down, anti-climatic right? Well, still two more out there to find and at this point, I was finishing the mission. As the Viper bodyguards looked to their now dead leader I finished off the relay with a swift pistol shot before zipping up to some high ground just like Spiderman. Damn, I'm awesome. The team and I decide to set up an overwatch trap for these snakes while Tau flushed them out with an acid bomb splashing the bitches.

They took offence to that as one comes up to me and decides to be quite upfront with me, pulling me towards her with some tongue action before binding me up with her loving deadly coiled embrace. Damn, this bitch was all over me but sorry to say her advances were wasted as I already had the main girl back on the Avenger miss hissy. Not sure who would she be pissed at if she saw me like this, me or the snake. Anyway, the other charged past Eternal's line of sight and he put it down with one blast before he came to my rescue and killed the girl wanting to get a piece of me if you know what I'm saying.

With that the mission was complete and we got the hell out of there, I came out with a few cracked ribs but nothing a bit of bed rest can't fix. I get to chat with my partner at the same time, lets see how she handles some joke knowing the snake ladies wanted some Billy-Terror today. I might be dead by the end of the day, or laughing, we'll see. Soon be Christmas after all Signing off.

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Reapers Log: 32  
December 14, 2035.  
Operation: Knife Hand.  
How strange. I write 2 logs in 1 day. Something i’m not used to, but i’ll take it. With that strange thing to know about out of the way, once I was done writing my last log, I immediately was called up to the debriefing room. My companions with me were Will, Beast, that explosive Tau dude again, Magnusson, and “Numbers”. We had to destroy an alien relay. Is it pointless to tell what we do for every single mission? Maybe so, others can argue against it. I don’t care, this is my log, and I can write whatever I want on here. That’s just how I roll.

Anyway, I swear as we progress through the months, the missions we had to face get more and more daunting. While we were approaching the objective, we had to face the viper king once again. Then again, Will immediately took him out with his sniper rifle, so I shouldn’t be complaining about that. Still, it was like the enemy is discovering new ways on trying to harass us. The vipers decided to wrap around Will, who was attempting to kill one of the vipers during the very last of the mission, which was; for once, a smart move made by a viper. Even after all of that, we managed to do what we always do, get stuff done.

Unfortunately, I still haven’t gotten my promotion yet. That day will come soon enough. I apologize if this is brief, but I currently don’t have the energy to be writing detailed information about what’s going on my day. So i’ll stop here for now.  
-Rodats, Out.

-End Of Log.

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Firebrand's personal log - December 21st 2035 (Entry #45)

It's almost Christmas. I'm not sure if anyone will consider celebrating the occasion. Not really much to celebrate, since ADVENT took over everything. But, after 20 years, this Christmas, we have more hope than usual that we'll get these bastards off our planet. Thanks to the Commander. He had his moments when he was off his game but ... he's making solid progress. I just hope he plans things properly, doesn't miss something obvious and keeps on going until it's game over for the aliens. That's all I ask.

The team went into the tunnels last week to neutralize a relay. Lots of acid used, from what I hear. But they got the job done quite quickly and efficiently. And ... we had a VIC on board. Very Important Corpse. His Royal Slipperiness, the Viper King. I'm sure Tygan is eager to get his hand and scalpel on him. Pretty damn heavy bastard though. At least there was less slime on board than usual. I also had some help cleaning up from one of the engineers. Many thanks.

Now ... Supply raid. There's also an UFO making rounds, I think it's looking for us. Sounds ominous. Like I said ... hope the Commander doesn't miss something obvious.

Let's go.

Firebrand out.  
Show less

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Damon Nights’ Audio Log: December 21st, 2035  
Guerilla Ops mission came up, hopefully it’ll be more interesting than the last one. The point where the squad was dropped off had some decent high ground, something that can only really be found in cities. The beginning was a bit slow, not that that’s a bad thing, it’s just that the squad spent a bit of time scouting, and found few Aliens, but they were engaged, with Blazkivitz taking a shot at a Spectre. After that, ‘Beast’ charged in and killed off both the Spectre and a Viper. Rodats was sent ahead to scout, and found a few another Alien, and an Advent troop. Both were killed off, but Rodats was injured in the process. This time ‘Tau’ was sent ahead, but he got the attention of two Advent troops and a Heavy Mec. After the Mec was killed, two more Advent started patrolling nearby, ‘Numbers’ took a shot at them, but missed, causing them to rush towards the squad. Eventually, the rest of the Advent troops were killed. I was right in my hopes, because who does Rodats find when he went scouting? The Viper King! And he kept his wounds from the previous battle, making him extremely weak. I would consider his death to be vengeance enough for him killing Ana. Hell, he died without a fight, ‘Numbers’ was able to take the thing out with his Bolt Caster. Rest in peace Ana Stein. After that, Blazkivitz finished off the Communication Relay. The two Vipers that were with the King were killed, and that marked the end of the mission.  
Tygan was pretty hyped to get to the Viper King autopsy, but sadly he was still busy with Plasma Lance research. We went back out to search the firefight for that new recruit, and during that time Julian was reconstructed. The Commander also requisitioned another upgrade to Julian, this one will allow him to repair faster. While still searching for that new recruit the Covert Operatives came back with information on the Chosen Warlock, which also boosted our reputation with the Reapers. Another group of operatives were sent out, interestingly enough, to continue the hunt for the Warlock. Apparently this new guy came was a veteran from the original XCOM group, which is pretty cool, I must admit. After picking Sir Pineapple up, we went out to search for an informant who claimed to have some pretty important intel for us. Less than a day into the search, and the Council sent us their message, which sure as hell ain’t monthly, so I don’t understand when it happens, I won’t complain though, means another paycheck. The Skirmishers help in sabotaging the Black Sites is just wonderful, means we won’t die anytime soon. Even better new, the Reapers now send the supply drops to us with one of their agents in the area, meaning we don’t have to waste time collecting it ourselves, which means I get paid sooner! The Commander gave us the supplies and the go-ahead to construct a weapon upgrade and some more Bluescreen rounds. After that, we went back to looking for supplies, and during that time the testing of Bio-Rocket Launchers finished.   
Kept up with the search for the informant before the Council tipped us off on a location where we could steal supplies from Advent. I wish everyone luck, and hope the come back safely. Oh wait, I almost forgot! Some interesting stuff actually happened to me over the week! First thing isn’t too exciting, but I’m pretty happy about it. My GREMLIN parts finally finished being printed, happened a lot faster than I expected, like a day or so after the mission, but that means I was able to get started on, and finish building extremely quickly! The other thing that happened to me was a little unsettling. So, while I was in the Infirmary, doing what I always do, maintenance, I was approached by ROV-R. Now, ROV-R being there wasn’t strange, he always is, scanning patients, because, reasons? But yeah, so he was doing his usual little circuit of the Infirmary, stopping to look at each of the current patients, before drifting closer to me. He paused for a little bit, camera lens telescoping in and out in at my shirt several times, before turning 180° degrees, he turned back to me, and his screensaver was my face. And not just a big picture of my face, but several small pictures, repeating over and over again. This was really freaking weird, but then I remembered my only clean shirt was the GREMLIN print one. I smacked myself in the face, and then burst out laughing. So the thing seems to have a sense of humor! But, after a moment's thought, I realized just how odd that was, GREMLINs had V.I.’s, so he shouldn’t have been capable of doing that. I quickly stifled my laughter and told him to change his screensaver before anyone noticed. ROV-R complied, but I swear to god he winked at me, or at least the best he could achieve with a central camera. I feel like I should talk to Shen about that exchange, but I’m not really sure what I should do.

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Personal Log #13, Major Jenny Fleet - December 15, 2035

The doctors let me leave the infirmary for long enough to go to the bridge to watch the feed of our latest mission.

Beast was, well, a beast, taking out a spectre and inferno viper by himself, later killing a duelist with Rodats' claymore, killing a purifier, and justicing a sniper, allowing Eternal to finish him off.

Magnusson also did work. On top of that sniper, he took out a boa and two vipers himself. Numbers did some good work as well, nailing both the boa and finally finishing off the Viper King on overwatch shots.

BillyTerror took out a striker, as well as destroying the alien device which was the team's objective there. Tau still seems to be getting off to a slow start on his second mission with us, but he did do a good job spraying acid on everyone. All in all, this was a comparatively relaxing mission that people needed, although a lot of people are tired after missions on back-to-back days.

Personal Log #14, Major Jenny Fleet - December 21, 2035

We picked up a new colonel grenadier: "Pineapple" Thunder, who is as unique as his name. We try our best not to giggle behind his back as his appearance very much matches his nickname. It's hard to miss that green stack of hair roaming around the Avenger.

The Commander is also starting plans to assault the Assassin's stronghold. Unfortunately I think I’ll still be injured when that mission happens.

Anyway, we're on our way to North America now to do a supply raid to get some sorely needed supplies. Maybe while we're here we can get some REAL food for Christmas dinner later this week. Like some wild turkeys or something.

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Lana Stubbs's notebook :

So it seems that I am supposed to use the "GREMLIN anomaly report" system ONLY for reporting anomalies. Like, I can't just explain what I think or... Things like that. So ok ! No problems, I will just have to use this instead ! It's great ! So... What's new from the last time ? Oh, yeah... further analysis seems to demonstrate that CML-N personality is not coming from any kind of external source. It come from... INSIDE the actual code.   
There is also the fact that... Well, I'm not here to go on a technical rambling so... Let's just say that we have an idea about where this could come from. Buuuut I'm not sure about the success of asking the Major E. to "let us open his drone, and make some kind of experiments that could possibly damage his memory core". And then I started thinking about something : If it's from the GREMLIN code, it's not stupid to think that OTHER units could have this save... "personality". And maybe we can "trigger it" from another unit ! Anyway.... I have some well earned free time right now, and I think I'm going to enjoy it has much has I can !

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Damon Nights’ [Secret] Audio/Visual Log: December 20th, 2035  
Collux hears a knocking on his room's door. Upon opening it, he is faced by a random XCOM employee. "Er, hi, hello there. Uhm, you're Collux, correct?"  
"That is correct." Collux looks at the employee blankly. "How may I help you?"  
"Oh, uh, right, sorry. I'm supposed to deliver this to you. It's from, Second Engineering Officer Damon Nights." He hands you a letter before shuffling off. The contents of the letter are brief, but friendly. The letter states that Damon would like you to come down to his quarters as soon as you possibly could, and that he is sorry he couldn't come down to see you in person because he was busy working on a personal project.  
Collux shuts his door and makes sure to pick up a bottle of the dark green liquid he drinks. He's been drinking it quite a lot lately, it helped him with his sore throat some time ago when he was helped by Damon from some of other XCom employees. It was found, after that incident, that those exact employees had been selling XCom secrets to the Black Market for some extra cash on the side. They had been personally reprimanded by Shen and Bradford, sending them all to the brig, so he wouldn't be having any more trouble from them again. He was still playing the scenario through his mind, but Damon had done enough to keep him confident that he was not at fault. Collux made sure he had everything, dark green drink included and a beer for Damon too, and took off to his friend's room. He knocked on the door to the Officer's living quarters.  
After knocking on the door Collux hears a large amount of shuffling form inside Damon's room, before the door opens to a slightly flustered looking Damon. Upon seeing Collux, his face brightens. "Collux! How have you been mate? Please, step inside!" Damon gestures inside, where you see that his bed is littered with robotic parts, and an open GREMLIN.  
"I... er..." Collux pauses for a few seconds. "I got your note, but you look busy, do you want me to come back?"  
"No it's fine, just finishing up actually! I just have to close the frame up again and it should be fine." Damon glances around the room for a second. "Er, let me find a chair or something for you." He searches around the room for a few seconds, before pulling a fold up chair out from under his bed. "Okay, so I have my computer set up on the desk. I hope you don't mind, but I already have the flashdrive open. I haven't looked through any of the files yet, the most I know is that there are four items inside of it, three files and a video. The files are labeled: My Logs, My Work, and My Gift. The video isn't named, so I don't really know what the context of it is." During this time, Damon has been sitting on his bed, securing the top half of the GREMLIN case to the rest of the frame. "The first two logs are pretty self explanatory, but I'm really interested in the last two items. But we'll get to everything when the time comes. Feel free to choose a file or something to look through while I finish this."  
"Yes sir." Collux says a little too militaristic-ally and Damon looks surprised. "You are a higher rank than me on this ship, it is right that I call you by your designation, is it not?" Collux shuffles a little awkwardly into the room and sits down at the chair next to the computer. "This is for you." He said absentmindedly, passing one of the bottle shaped objects over to Damon without looking. "Wait, who is that in the first frame of the video?"  
Damon glances quickly at the bottle. "Thanks mate! I've been meaning to buy you some drinks for your promotion and stuff, but haven't gotten to that yet. Hey, the holidays are coming up, so I'll try to get you something then." He looks back up to the monitor. "Not sure who that is, haven't opened that video yet, even though it doesn't seem to fit with the rest of the files. Do you want to start with that?"  
"Yeah sure, thing." Collux presses a button which plays the tape.  
Damon sets his stuff aside and shifts over on his bed to get a better angle of the screen.  
The recording plays as if it the people were running an experiment. "Dr Stein, could you please relocate Alpha subject to the test area?" Dr Vahlen's voice is loud and clear, maybe Bradford should be watching this too. She was standing in a messy office, which seemed to be moving slightly. No that was the camera, it must be hand held, guessed Collux. Dr Vahlen was now a little older than some of the other recordings of her from the first wave. "Has Amy checked the site to see if it's viable for test running yet? We were waiting on her go ahead for the structural integrity of the area, namely the geological composition of the rocks. She said she may have found some sandstone. It would be a nightmare if one of them escaped." Said another person on the screen, she must be Dr Ana Stein. "Dr Woodget has confirmed that there is negligible deposits of sandstone around the test site to not be worried about escapes." Collux's eyes grow wide with surprise. Did he not kill her when he was mind controlled then? Had she survived? The camera then moves along with the two Doctors out of the office, Dr Vahlen needing to use a stick and being helped by Ana down to a large area with a huge glass screen. The camera was very floaty, and didn't feel like it was being held by anyone human. The Doctors were joined by another woman in a wheelchair. She talked with a British accent, had longish dark brown hair, glasses and was pretty even though she was missing an eye. "Dr Woodget, are we ready to proceed?" Asked Ana helping Dr Vahlen down into a seat. "Yes, everything is ready. The soldiers put up the metal constructs to contain the creatures from Dr Norwelch's designs. I don't trust him though, he's always being secretive and saying crazy things." Dr Woodget, the lady in the wheelchair, turned herself around to look through the glass like the other two. "We all know he's not all there, but I looked through the latest designs he gave me and they all seem rather sound." Ana replied. Collux thought it best to save himself from questions until the end of the recording. But his sister was alive. His sister... was alive. Damon looked at him and frowned, he realised that his jaw was a gape with astonishment and closed it immediately. The recorded carried on. "How was the surgery, Amy? It looks like the little fella did well." Ana asked the Doctor in the wheelchair as an unconscious serpent-like creature was deposited behind the glass and the magnetic doors sealed it shut. "It went well, I nearly have all the nerve endings back and I've been able to walk about most of the time. I do feel comfortable in this chair, but I could get up and walk around. Running might be a problem though. Oh it's about to start." Amy replied. Vahlen's eyes narrowed. "Hey, Eve are you getting all this? Get closer so you can have a look, don't worry you won't get hurt." The camera moves forwards and for once you can see the outline of some sort of... drone. Eve was a drone, built similarly to that of the Gremlins that XCom has, a prototype maybe? "She's pretty good isn't she, Shen gave her to me before I left to help me with my experiments. I think he called it something like Gremlock or Grenling." Vahlen said. Amy was about to speak by Vahlen's hand went up, silencing her instantly. The creature had started to stir a little. After about ten mins of silence and some hissing noises the viper moves around it's prison. "Well, the first male of its species. A job well done, I think. Now we know there can be both male and female genders of this species, we will have to try the same with the others." Vahlen said. Ana turned to the camera, who was now looking at her. "Thank you, Eve. End recording." And the video ends.  
"Interesting, I believe we saw, among other things, a "younger" Viper King. But I'm going to consider this the lesser of what we have seen. Let's look at the people in this video. I think we both recognized Ana and Vahlen, but who were those other two people? I believe one of them was called Amy Woodgen, but the other one wasn't named." Damon sits back racking his brain to see if he recognized the fourth person, but he did not. "Er, you had an interesting reaction when seeing one of those people. Did you recognize them from somewhere?"  
"Yes, the lady in the wheelchair, Dr Amy Woodget. She wasn't always in a wheelchair. She used to stand nearly 5 foot 5... no 5 foot 6." Collux paused still in slight disbelief. "But I thought I had killed her a long time ago. She's my... sister."  
After a few minutes Collux piped up again. "The fourth figure. He didn't talk much. I guess we could presume he was called Dr Norwelch. But he was a famous engineer for Advent, it couldn't have been him, could it?"  
"We've had Advent defectors help us on missions before. Several presumably dead people have shown themselves to not be. I doubt a famous Advent engineer also defecting isn't the most surprising thing we have, or will, see. But hey, we have some good news here! Your sister might not actually be dead!" Damon stops to think for a bit. "Actually, what did he do, and do you remember your sisters profession? We seem to have an interesting group of people here. Ana, a biotech engineer; Vahlen, an astrobiologist; Dr. Woodget, your sister; and Dr. Norwelch."  
"My sister was a geographer at heart, but drones were her thing too. I'm unsure of what she was working on whilst at XCom, but she was an XCom employee at one stage, which at the time I felt was strange. Dr Norwelch on the other hand isn't a defector. He was working with Advent while I was with them and he's still working with them now.”  
"If that's the case, what was he doing with several ex-XCOM members?"  
"He was assigned a classified operation some years ago. Maybe he was a spy for Advent, hoping to take advantage of Dr Vahlen's work? In anycase, do we know when this video was recorded? If this was recorded on a prototype Gremlin, which is it seems to be, then there should be some log data that we can extract using another Gremlin. At least, that's the way I think it works anyway."

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War recount 41

The team went out to destroy a alien relay and besides Shas'la and Rodats no one took a real beating out there. The mission started off great with Beast going insane on two Advent and taking them down single handedly before the team moved on. After fighting another group the Viper King reared it's, almost dead, head. Numbers took it out quickly with the Bolt Caster as the thing moved in to fight. The squad eventually killed the remaining Advent and in proper XCOM fashion left the place on fire and covered in acid. The second phase of hunting the Warlock has begun and Khane still hasn't dropped a hint as to why he’s so serious about it, I don't know the guy real well but he seems like normally he's a talker. Christmas is coming up and we’re still not sure what we’re really doing but plans are for suckers I say we got this. Supply raid with Lost and the new grenadier is going out, that'll be interesting.  
Signing out  
Jebediah Primm

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Derek Walters. Audio Log Entry 17: Slam Oh... hic... this $#@! is hic... tough... uuuugh... note to hic... self... never... drink... Chrysallid... ven- slam End Log

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Julian's log

Log 5

12/14/35

Here I am and still here. I've been stuck in the rebuild state for several days now and have in fact been stuck in a shut down states for tests. Apparently while I'm gone the fleshlings have been busy. The viper king is dead and while I haven't heard that results of the last mission I hear this one was a marginal success on the fleshlings part my rebuild counting as a major one. As I'm stuck on a computer I plan to study the fleshlings and their interaction as well as this thing they call "Christmas". Sadly my log must be short today. Another test is coming soon

Julian out


	48. Ep 47 - Operation Frost Breaker

**Ep 47-----Operation Frost Breaker-------------------------------------------------------**

Personal Log #15, Major Jenny Fleet - December 22, 2035

The team went on another mission. This one I didn't bother going to the bridge to see, my abdomen was still bothering me too much from that Gateway blast. However, I heard that Collux and Vintermorgon absolutely killed it out there. Apparently Collux tallied up 26 Lost kills while Vintermorgon took out the Gatekeeper, and with it, a lost and the Gatekeeper's five psi zombies. I'm not sure anyone has taken out seven bogies on one shot before.

Anyway, we ended up getting tons of supplies and other loot, so that was a mission we sorely needed. Some people were injured again but it still doesn't feel like we're in quite as bad a shape as we have been. Numbers did have to join me in the infirmary, though, so I guess Huntsman is going to have to pick up the specialist slack for the time being.

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Julians log  
XCOM database  
22/12/2035  
log 6

Bravissimo, Bravissimo. While I normally would be the one to start these logs on a neutral stance it seems that even I have been infected with the so called "good morale" from the completion of a stellar mission. Even though being stuck on shipboard drives me mad it was a pleasure to see that the fleshlings were able to strive above and beyond their numerous flaws and failures to being death and bloodshed to our shared captors. It started as any other mission, the crew landing in an abandoned city where any and all of the former inhabitants had either been taken away or morphed into walking cadavers which the science brigade onboard the ship had been calling lost. these "lost" are inferior even to flesh lings, most being slow, shambling, sacks of decaying bio matter barely able to destroy armor let alone make a puncture wound in flesh. But back to the mission, upon landing the soldiers were confronted with two groups and a traitor advent heavy, the enemy consisting of several troopers, a sectoid, and a specter machine. All were dead within seconds thanks to the skirmisher and the one called numbers, whos marksmanship has grown my respect over time. a swarm of lost was next on the list, nine strong exactly, only the one called Collux, the former bondmate to the ranger who provoked my inner meditation, had to lift a finger and despite his inferior targeting systems all of the creatures then lay in broken bodies around them. Beyond that even a group containing mutons and andromedons, acidic loving bioorganisms that have a mechanical subroutine, were quickly wiped out by acid grenades and weapons fire, though the sniper was sadly wounded by one of the biological brutes weapons, though this was quickly rectified. Another swarm was soon to follow, and this one went from eleven individuals to eight, courtesy of overwatch fire. And once again the sniper wiped the lost souls from this plane of living, leaving the other soldiers to bask in his glory and seek out crates. Things were going quite well, and then the group showed up, three archons, one gatekeeper, and all an aberration to the glory of mechanical glory. In true ironic fashion however, the lost appeared and assaulted the group giving our soldiers time to react, and react they did, as a single one of the blasphemous mechanical angels was taken in a single shot from the boltcaster and another damaged, the gatekeeper itself having been heavily damaged by acid and weapons fire but in a last effort it fired its futile skill along with its allies pinions, but both were proven in vain once in a single blow, the skirmisher took down both the keeper and its minions and the other was dodged. The templar’s blades slew another archon and the heavy the second from there Collux wrapped up the rest.

The mission was clean and simple, a welcome change, now in news from the Avenger, little has changed, my rebuild is complete though i have a feeling that the finishing touches they speak of are something fishy. Beyond that, I will log when there's more to report.

Julian out

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Damon Nights’ Audio Log: December 28th, 2035  
December 21st marked the day of the supply raid. I say with regret that the specific kind of supply raid that the squad was sent on was the kind that involved marking crates before Advent did, which is annoying. Vintermorgon charged in to scout out the first visible supply crate, but was spotted by a few Advent troops. ‘Numbers’ killed the first Advent soldier by skullmining it, but he got damaged by feedback from a failed hack. I almost forgot, we had the help of another Advent defector. People around the ships have started to call these defectors AHAB’s, I think, I don’t really understand why. It took a little longer than expected, but the other soldier was defeated. While heading to the supply cache, the squad encountered a few Lost, which died with one shot to the head, and a Spectre. The Spectre disappeared sometime after the Lost showed up, instead of initiating combat with them. A massive swarm of Lost appeared before the squad could reach the second available crate, but Collux moved in a little closer, and fired off a killing blow to each member of the swarm but two! This gave our other Advent friend the chance he needed to claim the next cache. The next two caches were pretty close by, but the Commander was worried that the mission was going a little too smoothly, so he sent our Advent trooper up to the top of a nearby building so that he could look for threats. The Commander’s instincts weren’t wrong, because up ahead was two Mutons, an Andromedan, the Spectre, and an Advent soldier. It took awhile, requiring several well placed shots, and a few grenades, but the Alien group was finally felled. Collux was injured during the exchange, but I think with a few days in the Infirmary, he’ll be fine. A bit off topic, but I’ve heard some rumors that there will be a holiday feast going on in a few days, might help Collux sneak out so we could go. Our trooper was almost killed as well. Another Lost swarm showed up, but they’re not really a big threat anymore. Yet again, Collux wiped the floor with the Lost, practically killing off the entire swarm by himself! Before any of the other caches could be claimed, someone was spotted by a gatekeeper and three Archons! I guess lucky for the squad, a Lost swarm appeared and started distracting the Aliens. The Gatekeeper shot some sort of psionic blast at the squad, which not only damaged them, but also resurrected some of the Lost as Psi Zombies. Eventually the Gatekeeper and the Archons were killed, which in turn killed the Psi Zombies. Collux destroyed the remaining Lost, in my opinion he deserves a promotion! The mission ended after that, with no more opposition trying to claim the caches.  
So, after everyone came back we kept up searching for that informant I mentioned ages ago. Now, while the Christmas party had happened, I recorded my recollection of it somewhere else. The Assassin managed to steal one of our Elerium cores, and harmed a Scientist, they will recover at least. We kept searching, and during that time we finished working on the E.X.O. suit, meaning our soldiers can now bring heavy weaponry onto the field, no longer needing to rely on Julian. After that, the Commander ordered the final SPARK upgrade we had access to, which in essence allows Julian to punch things harder. The Plasma Lance research finished at around the same time as finding that informant. I’m sure all the Snipers appreciate this newfound fire power. A few almost instant autopsies allowed us to get access to some fancy new tech, before the Commander settled on researching ways to increase the caliber of pistols without sacrificing control. We stopped by the Black Market, but since Collux was wounded still, I decided it was a good idea to wait until next time. After that visit, the Commander ordered the Plasma Lance and Shadow Lance were ordered to be constructed. If you want to hear about something from my daily life, well, I had to keep Ana, aka VLP-N away from Kohlla while I was working. I realized that due to her powerful psionic connection she might be able to sense VLP-N or something. I’m probably paranoid, but better safe than sorry right? I don’t really know what would happen if people found out that a GREMLIN had “developed” true A.I.  
We started making contact with Eastern Asia, but stopped as soon as Kohlla finished her recovery the Commander ordered we stop for now, and had the Avenger turned around. This came as a bit of a surprise, before people realized what he had planned, we were going to take out our first Chosen! And it just so happens to be the Assassin! Collux wasn’t in a good enough shape to go on the mission, but it means he probably won’t die anytime soon. But hey, we’ll both be there, offering a drink to whoever dealt the killing blow, hell, we’ll buy a drink for everyone! I wish them the best of luck, and hope they all come back alive, so we can all get drunk together!

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War recount 43

This is probably the most fruitful supply raid we have ever had. The Lost could barely touch the team and any Advent that showed up died before they had a chance. It was almost as if Advent completely forgot to mark crate, they were just out in the open, ready to be taken. Vintermorgon and the AHAB that came with both destroyed the roof of a building together in the proper XCOM fashion. The AHAB was later sent to the Skirmishers with a lot of bruises and wounds but he seemed happy to be out of Advents grubby claws. Talked with Pox, the Skirmisher Comms Officer, and he hasn't changed much, wished him a merry Christmas and all that though. Next mission is to attack the Assassins home and hopefully kill her, getting rid of one main problem that we've had since day one. The new plasma sniper rifles are done which should help with taking down the Assassin.  
Signing out  
Jebediah Primm

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Reapers Log: 33  
December 21, 2035.  
Operation: N/A  
Since I was still recovering after my last mission, I didn’t go on the next mission. Maybe for the better I suppose. Their task was to extract supplies from the post-invasion cities. Why would Advent need to pick up supplies in a location where lost is present? I don’t know. Probably to draw away scavengers.

The new guy, Pineapple, a pretty “unique” nickname pulled on quite a show down there. Mowing down lost and Advent in order to clear the way to the crates. Barton also helped with that as well.

The only person that got seriously injured was Numbers. Other than that, everyone came out of there with a scratch, and Barton got a new promotion. She’s almost caught up to Zoey in rank. She’s no longer her apprentice anymore. She’s her own master in the ways of the templars. 

I also heard that Odd plans to take down one of the chosen, so I need to prepare in case he decides that I should go.  
-Rodats, Out.

-End Of Log.

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Derek Walters. Audio Log Entry 18: I confronted Rodats today over what in the hell happened the other night. Apparently, the team killed the Viper King, and we emptied our supply of Chrysallid liquor in celebration. As it turns out, in addition to a severe hangover, the aftereffects of this stuff include calluses and skin irritation. I'm probably gonna need to visit the Infirmary for this one. Don't want to start a Chrysallid infestation aboard the ship. We already have enough problems. But supplies sure ain't one! We got off with every freaking crate! Too bad we emptied the bar. We're about to raid the Assassin stronghold, and kill that demon for good. Celebration will probably be a bit underwhelming, though. As it turns out, stale rations do not make for good party food. Next time we set down to resupply, I'll remember to go out and get something. Maybe one of the nearby Resistance Havens has something. Walters out. End Log

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DISPLAY LOG (ROV-R)  
<0920:15 21.12.2035> begin PML-046  
<0920:16 21.12.2035> Applying post-combat analysis…  
<0920:44 21.12.2035> Medical alert: Neural feedback, Perforative trauma (gunshot), Psionic, Blunt force trauma, Concussion

REQUESTING URGENT MEDICAL ASSISTANCE FOR CPT JT ‘NUMBERS’ STEVENS  
[INVALID STRING ID]  
COL. BRUCE ‘PINEAPPLE’ THUNDER  
MAJ. COLLUX  
MAJ. NATALYA ‘CHILL’ VINTERMORGON

PLEASE REPORT TO THE INFIRMARY IMMEDIATELY

MAJ. SCARLETT ‘REAPER’ BARTON  
CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR PROMOTION

<0921:34 21.12.2035> Inventory update: + Salvage

Good morning, Administrator LILY SHEN  
<0925:11 21.12.2035> IFF definitions updated: ‘DOUBLE AGENT’ ally class added.  
<0925:20 21.12.2035> ‘DOUBLE AGENT’ ally class is granted indefinite GUEST status on the Avenger once flagged by User RICHARD TYGAN.  
<0925:21 21.12.2035> [UPDATE] REQUESTING URGENT MEDICAL ASSISTANCE FOR !FLAGGED DOUBLE AGENT.

<0925:30 21.12.2035> “This is an important message from Chief Engineer Lily Shen. Defectors from Advent who are willing to risk their lives to aid us are to be welcomed and treated with the utmost respect and hospitality. Dr. Tygan is experienced in the procedure of removing their Advent network implants. They will be treated in our Infirmary before being transferred to the Skirmishers. If I find out that anyone this ship bullies our new allies in any way, they will have to face me, ROV-R, and ROV-R’s Combat Protocol. Personally. Have I made myself abundantly clear?”

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[Roleplay log between Collux and Zoey ‘Kohlla’ Durand]  
Walking through the halls of the Avenger, Kohlla's yellow armour shimmered in the low lighting of the corridors. It was a rare sight to see her outside of her armour and in casual clothing, but these days it was a rare sight to see her on the Avenger at all. Since the incident in which the Warlock had turned her against her people, there had been a small contingent of workers aboard the Avenger who sought to see her pay, and so she avoided them. Not for her own safety of course, because she didn't fear them. It was for their safety. The Templar was worried she might lose control, that she would strike out at them too hard and hurt someone, and that would make her a traitor - and she would rather have died than be one. But there were other reasons to her reclusiveness as well. Granted, she had never been one for hanging out in the bar, but these days Zoey stayed in her room, grieving. The loss of Diego Ramirez had hit her hard. She had loved him, after all. But there came a time when it was better to face the cause of one's sorrow rather than run away from it, and so, she was here.

Coming to a stop the Templar found herself near the engine room of the Avenger. She'd only walked these specific halls a few times, mostly when she had to run messages for people or when she just had to check in with the engineering team - though today her purpose for being here was neither. The door ahead of her was the one that lead into the makeshift quarters of one of the soldiers she had fought beside countless times. Collux. He was formerly of ADVENT and when they first met Kohlla had had her reservations about him for just that reason. But much like the Skirmishers, Collux had proven himself worthy enough to now be free of those concerns. Raising up her left hand, she knocked it against the door, with the metal of her prosthetic echoing against the metal of said door as they collided. After a few moments, Kohlla stopped knocking, awaiting a response.

"Just one moment." Collux said as he put his helmet down, having just configured it again. He felt a presence behind the door way, full of strong purpose, but also loss. He didn't talk about the empathetic powers he was gifted when he became the experiment Advent had always hoped for. He could only sense very minor feelings though, and had not been taught how to use them either. He strode across his room and opened the door. He was met with yellow armour and a face he had seen many times before. In fact, if the Commander, Bradford, Shen and Tygan weren't on the Avenger, she'd be in charge. "Colonel Durand." Collux said surprised. He stood back from the door and saluted.

"How can I help you ma'am? I'm afraid I was not informed of your visit so my quarters are not as tidy as they could be." However, a scan of the room shows that everything was in its place, in proper military precision apart from Collux's helmet which had been left on the table next to his bunk.

As Collux came to the door and saluted, Zoey waved his hand away with her left one, keeping her right behind her back. It was obvious she was trying to conceal something, and she was doing so fairly poorly, though just well enough that whatever it was would remain unseen. "That doesn't matter, I'm not bothered by how tidy your room is." The woman replied, her tone somewhat casual. She had come as a friend, not a Commanding Officer, which Collux would be able to discern from her emotional state, if not having already picked it up from her body language and speech. Templars were trained to sense the emotions of others, and Zoey had similar emphatic abilities to Collux, though she would be able to see his thoughts even more clearly if he was impaled on her blades. But that of course, was off the table, and so for now all Kohlla could feel was the Trooper's surprise. "May I come in? I want to speak to you. Friend to Friend." She said with a small smile.

"I... Of course, Colonel." Collux stuttered, which was unheard of. "Forgive me, I am still learning non-Advent customs." He motioned for her to come in, and closed the door behind her. "Here sit, it is customary for me to make you comfortable and to offer you a drink, correct?" But he didn't wait for her answer, he motioned for her to sit down at his table, filled up his saucepan with water and placed two cups ready at the side with a tea bag in each. "I am fond of having tea as a treat. I hope you like it." After a while the water was boiled and he came over with two steaming cups of mint tea. "You came to me for a reason, I sensed strong emotion before I knew it was you knocking on my door. I hope I can help."

Zoey nodded as Collux waved her in, and she entered his room a moment later, making sure to keep whatever was behind her back out of view as she did so. "Tea sounds nice, I don't drink alcohol anyway. I find it numbs the mind too much." The Templar replied calmly, sitting at the table. As Collux prepared the tea, Zoey placed the object that had once been behind her back onto the table, and then waited for him to approach. As he did so, the former ADVENT Trooper would find a small vase on the table, filled with some flowers. They were all vibrant colours, and appeared to be freshly picked. Zoey didn't really know what flowers were what, as she had picked whatever had looked the nicest. She outstretched her left arm to take her cup of tea, and as she did so Collux would be able to hear the audible whirring of the mechanics inside of the arm. The Shard Gauntlet that adorned said prosthetic appeared to have words carved into them, but closer inspection would reveal that they weren't just words. They were the names of every fallen XCOM soldier, and the most recently carved belonged to Diego Ramirez. Durand took a small sip of her tea, before looking to Collux. "I hope you don't mind the flowers." She said, placing her cup on the table before speaking again. "You were a close friend of Rumble, right?"

Collux sat down and looked at Rumble's name on Kohlla's gauntlet for a moment. He let sadness wash over him for a while. He had felt all this a while back and he had been helped out of it by Damon. Feeling like he needed to help Kohlla and with the Colonel's words jogging his mind back again and he felt her gaze on his face as a single tear from each of his eyes roll down his cheeks. "I'm not sure if close would be the word. We appreciated what each other for what we did on the battlefield, we worked closely and vowed to have each other's backs out there. I remember he talked of you fondly, but not too much. You remember how he could be with his emotions. He had a passion for saving people, yet an aloof regard for most in XCom. I am sad not just because he is gone from us, but because I failed to keep him safe."

"It wasn't your fault he is gone. I don't blame anyone for our loss. There were just too many mistakes..." The Templar replied, her words quieting down to a small mumble towards the end of her words. Zoey was almost choking on tears as she spoke, and was barely fighting them off - something reflected in the psionic resonance she emitted. She bowed her head some, before looking back up at Collux, her face red and her expression barely composed. "He was so brave, and so heroic... I know he gave his life for our cause... but I worry he was gone too soon. I don't really know what to say."

Collux's eyes went wide with pain as his empathetic power got overloaded subconsciously by Kohlla. He welled up again, with tears flowing out of his eyes. She said 'our' loss. Not your loss. Not my loss. But our loss. Suddenly Collux had the sense of belonging. He knew he was meant to be here, with XCom, saving the world from the tyrannical rule of Advent and the Elders. "Here... I have tissues somewhere." He found them and passed them to her before taking a few himself. He then moved his chair next to hers and squeezed her shoulders with one arm. "He was taken from us cruelly and unjustly, but we can't let this phase us or make us lose our focus. If we crumble because of this then what had he been fighting for? For me, I will fight until I have achieved my mission or until I am no more, whichever comes first. But I will always celebrate Diego's life."

Taking the box in hand, Zoey formed a small smile and nodded to Collux. She picked up one of the tissues and wiped the tears that were forming in her eyes before they could stream down her face. "And the same from me. I will strive to avenge him, and the rest of those we have lost."

Collux nodded as well. "It's okay to cry and be sad because he is not with us. But, we have to be strong, because others are not so strong. I know it is hard since it has not been long. We all feel his loss. I've been told that Captain Magnusson has been having sleepless nights because he felt like he's had to fill in for Diego. But he's not Diego's replacement. No one is or will ever be. We can look back at his life and be happy that we got to know him the way we do. Honourable, noble, brave and heroic." Collux smiled. "He once called me 'Amigo' when I never thought I had any friends on this ship, he once caught me in the firing range and he complimented me on my aim."

"Yeah... I suppose you're right. We have to be strong for him, and the others." Kohlla replied as she scrunched up her tissue, looking over at Collux as he told her about his lack of friends among the ship's crew. It was something she empathised with, given the treatment she had faced after being mind-controlled. "I'll be your friend, Collux. How does that sound?"

Collux smiled. It was the first time that anyone had flat out asked to be his friend. Damon had started questioning him about what had happened in his past with Advent and whether he would know anything to do with specific facilities. And he and Diego were both introverts, they didn't mind each other’s company and they appreciated each other’s talents too, so it just sort of happened. But Colonel Durand... No, Kohlla, the hero of XCom was asking him, Collux, a former high-ranking Advent Spec Ops if she could be her friend. "Yes. I would like that. Human culture has a custom around this time of year. I think it's called Kris-Mas. Is that correct? Where you... er... eat a meal with the people who hold great value in your life. I know it's a little forward of me, but would you perhaps be willing to meet with me and the rest of the crew in the mess hall for this meal?"

A small smile formed on Kohlla's face as she chuckled quietly under her breath at Collux' lack of understanding of human customs, though she quickly wiped away her cheeky grin. "It's called Christmas, and I would love to attend with you." She replied, taking a final sip of her tea before rising out of her chair. "Do you know about the other part of Christmas?"

Collux frowned in confusion. Another part of Christmas? What other part could there be? A fighting ring perhaps? Extra promotions? Or maybe another mission to avenge our dead? "There is another part of Christmas!? What is it?"

Once again, the smirk returned to Kohlla's face, though like the one before she quickly did away with it and regained her composure - somewhat, at least. "Giving and receiving gifts. I hope you've got one for me." The Templar responded, her tone shifting to more of a tease towards the end of her words.

Collux frowned, he was utterly perplexed by this. What the hell is a ‘gift’? Are they like medals? Given out to people that have the highest kill count, or the highest accuracy? He remembered what he was 'gifted' by Advent when he had achieved the highest status an Advent Soldier could get and that had completely changed his life. "Gifts? What's a ‘gift’?" Oh wait, maybe something life changing. What could he 'gifts' to someone that was life changing? Those were the last tea bags he had and they had changed his life. Maybe he could find some more of them from somewhere... But would Kohlla want it? This was the Colonel he was thinking of, she's been with the resistance at least since the commander got back, or maybe even longer! Something more personal, perhaps? He looked around his room, racking his brains until he thought of something. Was that item too personal? Maybe, but it was his most prized possession. What else could he do?

Durand gave Collux a brief smirk as she watched his expression shift to a frown as he thought over what to get her for Christmas. Rising up from her seat, she gave the former Advent Trooper a brief nod, said smirk still plastered wide across her face - a stark contrast to the tears that she had shed only minutes beforehand. "I'm going to leave now, so I think I'll see you next on... Christmas day, perhaps?"

Ah, she is leaving. That means I can start getting her 'gift' ready straight away. I hope she will like what I have planned. "Yes ma'am, at Kris-Mas. Yes. I will see you there. And Colonel, remember. If you want to talk at any time, as a friend, you only need to knock on my door and I will be here."

Coming to a stop just in the frame of Collux's doorway as the soldier told her that he would be there for her any time, Zoey sniffled briefly as her smirk broke into a small frown. Collux couldn't see it her frown, because she was facing away from him, and to the same end she also tried to silence her sniffling, putting on a brave face as she turned to Collux. "Thank you." She replied, her breath somewhat shaky but holding together for the most part. "I will always be there for you as well."

A tear pearled out of Collux's left eye, slowly rolled down his cheek and dropped to the floor. He nodded. "That is most generous of you, Colonel Durand." Then without thinking and with head held high, he stood and rose up to his full height saluted her. Above all else Collux had respected rank, but that had changed since being accepted into the resistance and into XCom. Kohlla embodied flawless compassion and unwavering duty to the cause. This is what he believed in now and this is what he wanted to embody too. "Thank you for being an inspiration to us all by being compassionate enough to accept us and brave enough to defend us."

Returning the salute, Kohlla lowered her hand after a few moments and gave Collux a curt bow. "Thank you for being there for all of us even when we didn't accept you."

"All it takes is time, Kohlla, to heal our wounds and to trust others." Collux said. Then the alarms blared and a voice came over the tannoy system. "XCom, this is Central, could Colonels Durand and Thunder, Majors Blazkivitz and E, Captain Magnusson and Lieutenant Deathscope please report to the hanger for a special immediate briefing. We're going after the Chosen and this time they won't come back." Collux nodded. "Good luck out there, Colonel. May you quench your revenge upon the Chosen and come back to us unharmed."

Kohlla nodded once more as Collux finished speaking, a small smile forming on her face before the alarms started and Central called her to duty. "Thank you Collux, I'll make sure that when the Assassin dies, she dies in your name, and Diego's too."

"Yes Ma'am. To victory and to getting our planet back." Collux mimicked her smile as best he could, but his Alien-like facial features hindered him slightly.

As she left his quarters he felt the sadness he had held deep in his heart and mind lifted slightly and the pain he had felt when Rumble had left them ease a little. He wiped the dampness off his cheek that the tear had left and looked over at the flowers in a small glass vase Kohlla had put on his table. Most of them were yellow, echoing Colonel Durand’s wardrobe, and his own armour too. He hoped he had helped. His mind drifted off into thought about the friends he had made since he had joined XCom. He had never had friends before. They had all been either rivals or colleagues, all vying for the Elder’s attention, all wanting to prove to them that they were best, or at least better than the others. The door slid shut behind the Colonel with a click. Then it hit him. Like a light turning on in a dark room or a key finally fitting a lock. It was good to be part of this rag-tag group of misfits and soldiers. It was good have friends like Kohlla, Rumble and Damon. It was good to finally be accepted for who he is now and not for his past self.

He realized he now had something he had not had at Advent.

He was home at last.


	49. Ep 48 - Operation Flying Vagabond 1 (Assassin's Stronghold)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Editor's note:
> 
> **************************************************************************************************************  
>  Check out the special Christmas side log here - the events are chronologically placed just before this chapter's mission  
>  https://archiveofourown.org/works/14172639  
>  **************************************************************************************************************

**Ep 48-----Operation Flying Vagabond 1 (Assassin Stronghold)------------------**  
((Because this mission is a two-parter, this story is not written in the form of a log written afterwards as the result is unknown, so it instead written from a third-person narrative set during the mission.))

As the Skyranger hovered over the landing sight, the charges were deployed and set, and only moments after touching the ground, each one erupted in a blast of flame that engulfed the floor and destroyed the ground beneath. The rock collapsed downwards, leaving a deep tunnel into the earth - filled moments later by an array of soldiers deploying into the makeshift entrance. They scrambled into their positions, with one yellow armoured woman taking cover along with the rest. Finally, the Assassin’s stronghold. Nowhere to run now, coward. She thought to herself, and as if one cue, said Assassin began to snarl insults and threats over the open communications channel. Ahead of the squad was a series of doors, each one a way into the action. The group took their pick, and only moments later met their enemies. Not their intended quarry, but the pawns in their path. One of the other soldiers, enrobed in a cloak and hood opened fire with his rifle, only after narrowly dodging a shot himself, and the bullet zipped into one of the exposed containers nearby - ripping through it with an explosion that engulfed almost half of the room in flame. Barely even a few seconds passed before another explosion rocked the facility, and the fires were stoked even further. A volley of shots zoomed through the flames, each one making their mark. The yellow-clad woman, Zoey Durand, known more commonly as Kohlla, charged straight into the blaze, avoiding most of the fire as she delivered her wrath upon her foe, ripping into them with a pair of dazzling purple blades that materialized out from the gauntlets upon her wrists. The corpse of her enemy crumpled to the ground, drained of both life and the few emotions that raced through its mind before it met its end. Pain. Fear. Each of these feelings was drawn out of the creature, running along the blades and into the body of the one whom wielded them. Her eyes erupted momentarily in a flash of energy the same hue as the weapons, before said weapons themselves crackled with a burst of power that bore a similar colouration. In the chaos, a straggler of the ADVENT forces broke from their hiding spot, charging to strike one of it’s assailants - Will Blazkivitz. The soldier gracefully dodged the attack, and in turn the Stun Lancer was reduced to nothing. Regardless of the fact that Will had evaded the strike, Zoey’s mind raced with thoughts of her own failure, how it could’ve ended a lot worse - and how the situation wouldn’t have arisen at all if she had struck the Stun Lancer first.

But there was no time to ponder on wasted opportunities and errors in judgement, as the next wave of the Assassin’s attack dogs snarled at the soldiers, making themselves known. Among their numbers were a trio of Archons, of the Valkyrie Variation to be exact, led by the hulking mass of armour and muscle that was known as the Muton Prime. The latter hung back whilst it’s lackeys got to work, but Kohlla was ready and waiting. Her anger spurred her onward, to attack her foe, and she struck the Archon closest to her with a storm of slices and slashes, so powerful that a wave of psionic energy surged forth and struck the other two Archons. Ultimately her attack did not draw the success of a kill, but the sheer agony of her foes, combined with her fury was enough to send a rush of Focus energy through her body, with her eyes and swords once again crackling with its potency as her weapons were imbued with a burst of strength. A hail of bullets ripped through the air, similarly tearing through either their intended targets or the scenery around them. Two of the Archons fell, though one more remained, and the battle finally drew the Muton out from hiding. It’s entrance was met with a blaze of gunfire, and the creature barely managed to deliver an attack of its own before it met its end, though it’s efforts meant that the Celatid Turret deployed by XCOM, referred to as Celly, met a similar fate. Now only the Archon remained, but that wasn’t for long. Leaping out from cover with a cleaving slash, Kohlla drove her blades through the creature’s regal armour, and the anger and power that were both behind the strike sent the Valkyrie to the ground, dazed by the sheer pain burning through its body. Magnusson and Blazkivitz took advantage of the opportunity before them, and dispatched the Archon like it was nothing. 

There was still an objective to complete, and so the team pushed forward. Deathscope scouted ahead, closely followed by Kohlla and the rest of their allies. For a few moments, they pushed unopposed, though their advance was not silent - instead accompanied by the constant droning proclamations of the Chosen Assassin. But now XCOM was close, and as the squad took their positions behind one of the blast doors, they found themselves even closer than they believed that they had been. The doors slid back, revealing a small room, lavishly decorated - within which their objective laid. The Ascension Chamber. Things of course, weren’t that easy, after all they never were, and that went double given they’d were inside of the home of one of the Elder’s most valued slaves. The Ascension Chamber was closely guarded by Chryssalids, though one in particular was far more important than the rest - the Chryssalid King. The Queen had been killed only weeks earlier, and now it was time to finish the monarchy. Magnusson, Huntsman and Pineapple opened fire on the beast, tearing into it’s chitinous plate with a hailstorm of shots, and Blazkivitz delivered the killing blows. Now all that was left was the King’s spawn, not as deadly as their monarch had been, but still deadly nonetheless. Blazkivitz drove another pistol round deep into the hide of one of the Chryssalids, and his bondmate rushed in to finish the job. Kohlla ignited her blades with a fervent fury, plunging them deep into the creature, tearing her weapons directly into where Blazkivitz had wounded it prior. The gash in it’s armour left it exposed enough for Zoey’s blades to pierce deep into it’s vital areas, and it fell to the ground, lifeless, right as the Templar drank in the final moments of it’s suffering. Her weapons and body were empowered further, with yet another surge of tempestuous energy, and just in time too. A pair of Chryssalids remained, and despite the death of the king and comrade, they were as devoted to the cause as ever. Perhaps devoted wasn’t a particularly fitting word given the general mindlessness of this specific alien species, with misguided rampancy being more accurate. The first Chryssalid struck at Kohlla with a sweep of it’s talons, though she parried it with a barrier of psionic energy, a move that regardless of how skillful it had been, did not manage to spare her from a followup by the final Chryssalid. The Templar’s body burned with the venom of her foe’s talons, and in return she lashed out at both of them with a duo of sweeping strikes that sheared through their armour, leaving them just barely alive, in unbearable pain - though only for a few moments more, as they quickly met their ends. Kohlla kept her mind on the battle, keeping herself focused on anything but the venom searing her body from the inside out, which was something she was relieved of when Huntsman’s GREMLIN cleansed her body of the poison. The soldiers stepped onto the ascension gate, and in a flash of light, they were teleported to the stage of their final showdown with the Chosen Assassin.

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Firebrand's personal log - December 29th 2035 (Entry #46)

I actually took some time off between the last mission, which went on quite well, and now. I've been told the Commander was planning something big. And it is big. We are taking the fight to Bitch #1. Her sanctuary, which had been uncovered and broken into, thanks to some help from our Resistance friends. We probably won't get another shot at this, hope the Commander got things right.

I am actually now on board the Skyranger. I just dropped the team off about ten minutes ago. I have the audio feed in my ear and turned off my microphone. Seems they've just gotten close to their destination. OH ... Oh shit. Chryssalids. A big one and three smaller ones. I hear plasma fire. Kohlla ... OH ... Oh, crap, she's injured. But they're all down. And there seems to be some sort of portal in that room. Maybe the transport to the Assassin's room. They're going for it ... Shit ... SHIT. I lost the feed. What the hell?

(microphone static)

Central, this is Firebrand. I have lost the audio. I repeat, I have lost the audio. What's going on?

(log turned off by user)

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Damon Nights’ Audio Log: December 28th, 2035  
Alright, I was able to access CML-N’s video feed to watch the whole Chosen mission! Just so that I don’t confuse anyone who might listen to these, I recorded this after the mission happened. Rodats was sent out first to scout ahead, spotting an Advent soldier and one of those Celatids. The rest of the squad was sent towards the opposite set of doors instead of engaging the targets. Upon closer inspection of the rooms layout, the Commander realized that Rodats was actually positioned in the wrong room, so the Commander had him pull back and join up with the rest of the squad to prepare to enter the next room. Rodats scouted up ahead in the new room and found two Advent Mecs (one Heavy, the other Bio) and two more Advent soldiers. Rodats blew something up near the majority of the Advent force, and “Mr. Pineapple” threw a plasma grenade in almost the exact same place, almost killing off both Mec’s and one of the Advent soldiers. Kohlla finished off one of the soldiers, and ‘Huntsman’ took out one of the Mecs. The remaining Advent in that room were finished off with relative ease. While taking a minute rest before moving ahead, the squad was spotted by a pretty gnarly looking Muton and a few Archons. I was informed that the Muton was another of those Primes. It took some effort, but eventually, the Aliens fell. Rodats was sent ahead to scout out the next two rooms, and found nothing in both the first and second room. Up ahead was an interesting spectacle, despite some disgusting Chryssalids. The room itself was, to be honest, kind of beautiful in its own way, the carvings were ornate, and clearly had effort put into them, I dunno, I just liked the way it looked. So on a previous mission a Chryssalid Queen was found and killed, and on this mission, a Chryssalid King was encountered and slain, I don’t know if there are more, or if these were the only ones, but either way, it means we have doomed the Chryssalid race, at least for now. According to Tygan, the platform in the middle of the room was some sort of transport device that leads to the Chosen’s personal sanctum. (To be continued…)

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War recount 44 part 1

This mission was to attack the Assassin's stronghold and finally put a stop to her before she can actually kill someone. There is definitely something poetic about her being the first of the Chosen that we met, to attack us, and to die. The squad faced off a Chryssalid King who may not have been a Ruler but he wasn't easy to kill. It was flanked by a few other Chryssalids which were easier than their king to kill. The Chryssalid King was blocking the teleporter to farther in and where the Assassin would be. As soon as everyone went through the teleporter that was when the real fight was about to begin.

[DATA PAD STORAGE FULL] [ARCHIVING OLD RECOUNTS] [CREATING NEW LOG PAGE] [RUNNING USUAL OUTRO]  
Signing out  
Jebediah Primm

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_The day begins on a cold moonlit evening. The team of intrepid heros chosen to hunt bitch number 1 have long since left the base, and life on the Avenger has returned to some semblance of normalcy. One man's evening however it appears, is soon to be interrupted by a knock on the door of his chamber on the ship, three swift raps breaking him from his post Christmas revelry._  
A voice can be heard from inside of the room. "I'll be there in a moment." _The door opens to reveal the Second-in-command of the engineering division._ "Hello there, uhm, how can I help you?"  
_The man before him is a young engineer, possibly one of the new ones picked up from the latest V.I.P. mission, the mouse-like man straightening his glasses and gazing up at the man who he has met with._ “Hello there sir? I’m looking for someone named Damon? They were listed as seeking a passive assignment between missions and something just came up. It’s kind of mediocre and somewhat unrewarding task but its a job nonetheless, a certain someone is now up and about and we need someone to run optimization tests.”  
"Well, you've come to the right place. Glad you came to remind me, I almost forgot I had signed up fo some extra work. Now, am I supposed to report to the Shen, or do I meet Julian, I assume you are talking about Julian, in the Proving Ground?"  
_The man smiles_ “Ohhh it’s you! Sorry about that!” _He offers a salute, and scratched the back of his neck before straightening up and speaking again._ “Oh yes the job! That would be Julian, the proving ground is in the well and capable, if stressed hands of the other engineers and Lily is helping to monitor the situation with the chosen, but in regards to the mech he's currently on the verge of awakening so other than a contusion on the hull thats the only other job available sir!”  
_Damon salutes back, and offers the other man a smile._ "At ease mate, we're not soldiers, no need to go through with their formalities. I'll gather what I need and head down right away. Is there a program I'll need to install for monitoring the tests, or is there just a clipboard with a checklist that I need to review?"  
_The man nods in response seemingly quiet or the moment before understanding what he needs to say._ “Oh right, sorry was going over that in my head, it'll be the checklist, despite his attitude he generally can handle his own systems checks but in this case we don't want any insane systems glitches when we send him out especially if its into the heat of combat, the nanobots we just installed also need to be checked due to them being very, very, very new.”  
"Alright, thank you very much. I'll start up VLP-N and head out now." _Damon heads back into his chamber and "rouses" his GREMLIN from its sleep mode, before heading down to the Proving Grounds. He picks up the checklist left for him in the corner and then looks around for Julian._  
_The being in question is in fact not yet there, but on a screen running through different subroutines and other various technical data far faster than any human could normally but upon one of the various sensors telling of the man's entrance the computer screen goes blank and the sparks eyes flash on._ “Ah, I see they've finally sent one, I do not believe I have had the privilege fleshling, who are you? I'm used to the little whirring companion my sibling keeps but I hear it's out killing ducks, I take it your here for the diagnostic?”  
"That I am. As for which "fleshling" I am, my name is Damon Nights, your "sister's" second-in-commanded. It's an honor to meet you sir." _Damon reviews the checklist._ "Alright, this seems simple enough, and the engineer that was sent to meet me said you were able to perform your own diagnostics. Don't know if anyone has told you yet, but if no one has, you're not going to like it. I'm supposed to have VLP-N here to apply some controlled shocks to you to test the capabilities of your new nanobots. Are you ready to begin?"  
_There's a period of silence before the spark stretches and steps down from its pedestal cocking its head to one side._ “Sir? Well it's better than scarecrow by far, very well Damon despite the annoyance of causing my new body damage for the sake of efficiency you will find no bother from me, just please, avoid the joints, the amount of system errors one has to correct when one's systems believe a leg is broken is a headache, beyond that, shock away, I’m used to it enough from the little being Shen keeps, every time I try and access a system it goes for the throat. But enough of my rantings, proceed.”  
_Damon looks down at the checklist again._ "Okay first thing to test is your cameras. Seems extremely simple. There is an eye chart on the other side, can you read off each of the seven lines?"  
_The robot turns curiously gazing over to the lines before responding._ “axygnghi yptiophii xplesino and beyond that the letters are written over by a series of expletive in regards to doctors wait times.” _He offers leaning back while he reads off the lines as well as the mistakes upon them._  
Damon reads off the clipboard. "Alright, that's...that's perfect. I have no idea how the wait times got on there, but yeah, you passed that "test." He writes something down on the clipboard. "Let's see, up next is to test out your appendages. Could you walk, say, two cycles around the room, and then, I don't know, wave or something?"  
_He seems to shrug his shoulders lightly rising to his feet and focusing on the task at hand rather than the human, his cameras unfocused but after a moment focusing again and obeying._ “As you wish lets see how well they put me back together.” _He mutters rising to his feet and moving in a quick jogging motion taking two cycles around the floor and waving both hands before returning to his side_ “Only one systems glitch detected, and that's the one that happens whenever the system tries to recognize me as the original program, other than that, perfect match.”  
"Alright then." _Damon writes something else down on the clipboard._ "Okay, now we're supposed to test out your weaponry to see if it still works, as well as some of the new upgrades you were given, to see if they are all still in working order." _He glances around the Proving Grounds._ "I feel it may be best if we head over to the Training Grounds for this. I don't think Shen would appreciate us blowing up her workspace."  
_The robot nods, falling into step beside the human and towering over him while they walk down the hall towards the weapons testing center the robot taking his helix cannon from a locker they pass on the way there._ “Upgrades? Were they on the list? Either way I think that's an understandable procedure, as for the workspace well as much as I'd like to say it doesn't matter it does, I want to continue to not die, though that might not be something i can avoid when this is over, in any case lead on.” _There's a brief silence for a moment before he speaks again._ “Tell me about you.”  
_Damon appears a bit surprised when asked about himself._ "Well, I used to be a part of a group of "inventors" who created experimental biotech implants, but one day while I was out getting drunk..." _At saying that, Damon winces visibly._ "...the Assassin assaulted our lab, almost everyone was killed. Besides myself, one other person escaped, she moved on to work for Dr. Vahlen, but was one of the first to die to the escaped Viper King." _He starts looking a bit depressed, but quickly recomposed himself._ "Well, it looks like we're here."  
_The robot nods, an oddly human gesture for the machine while it enters the firing range and sets its sights on the target._ “Hmm, a recent borne then, the Elders pet projects were not on terran grounds until late of the first Advent formation, so you're probably younger than your file suggests if you're the age you look, without offence of course. In regards to the king well..." _He fired several shots blowing a target to pieces with mag fire._ “...may it rest in atomic particles."  
Damon acknowledges the sentiment with a rueful smile. "Well, it appears your rifle is in working order." Yet again he writes something on the clipboard. "Let's see, I'll run down the list of everything else you need to complete when it comes to your weaponry: fire off your heavy weapon, which I assume is the rocket launcher; shoot at an armored target; hack a test terminal; and attempt to Overdrive. As for my age, I'll accept your comment about looking young as a compliment, though I can tell you that I'm not that old, I was born in 2010."  
_The robot hums in appreciation placing the rifle to his side before speaking._ “Walter if you would.” _The bit chirps and aims itself as the target, firing on the robots worded mark in a blast of rocket launcher fire before moving onto the terminal in question starting the hack while Julian speaks._ “Indeed, I believe what I've been told is the age from 20 to fifty is the prime of a life cycle at least in male subjects, then again Father was far older when this project began. Still, I'm glad you would, its the first compliment I've given to anyone aboard this ship, well beyond the dearly departed, speaking of which give my apologies to the personnel I believe you call "the inventory boys?" From what I've been told, my stunt gave them a big migraine. What was 2010 like?” He asks holding his weapon again and firing at a second target.  
"Well, I can't say it was too impressive, but then I don't remember too much of my childhood, at least nothing major until 2015, when the Aliens arrived. God, would you believe that people actually thought that the Elders were benevolent? I guess some people still do." _During the conversation, Damon is still marking things down on the clipboard._ "Well, looks like everything is good so far. Want to move on to that Overdrive thing so we can continue? Actually, do you have any stories of your own?"  
_The robot takes a stance and charges firing off his overdrive successfully before speaking beyond it once he finishes it successfully._ “In a way, I sort of can, without the necessary calculations needed to be made, I could see why people would desire the belief, a hope for lost souls, that something better than humanity would exist, and seek to help them build the work their own imperfect selves could not. It's a sad truth, but it was not simple. stories though..... well not many, the factory wasn't much to speak of. I could tell you why there's a small dent in the avengers armor the repair drones keep detecting but keep being programmed to avoid being fixed, or I could tell you about the rifle, or Shen or Father if your interested. I haven't really existed as long as many of you, or maybe its more so that i haven't "lived" as long.”  
_Damon raises both eyebrows at Julian's opinion of the Elders._ "I guess that's true. Never really thought about it that way." _He quickly writes something down about the Overdrive test._ "As for your stories, the first one sounds interesting enough, if you want, you can start there. Good news as well, you only have one more thing to test out before the, uhm, the controlled shocks, which is testing your suppression capabilities."  
_He shakes his head._ “Don't get me wrong the sooner I see them the better, I’m more than looking forward to taxidermying them by hand and putting them in a personal museum, but alright then, let's start here, do you remember the one you call Ramirez? I apologize if it brings up bad memories but it must be done for the tale to be told, but ah.” _He aims firing up the program._ “Very well, bring out the target."  
_Damon moves over to a console and selects a protocol. In the firing range, another target pops up, but it as soon as it is targeted, it begins to move._ "Yeah...I remember Ramirez, hell, I had to help Collux through his guilt over Rumble's death. But what does he have to do with this?"  
Julian quickly revs his gun and begins firing dropping into a kneeling stance and firing the fire to suppress the target speaking over the noise ah yes, the sniper, poor soul, as for "rumble" well, you see, it was the night after the incident, everyone was different, honestly it was hard to understand what death truly meant when it will never have you unless its a computer virus, but in my case, it in a way felt wrong to just do nothing, so i found a tag, and i found his spare rifle, the damage in the side of the avenger, was my own small gift to the fallen, his gun is welded into the side of a turret, his tag into the side of the avengers engineering hull"  
_Damon stares at Julian in surprise._ "I...well I didn't realize you actually cared for any of us, no offense meant though. But that was a wonderful gesture you made, I'll try to mention it to Collux, I'm sure he would appreciate it. Now, I'm afraid we're on to the last, and worst part. Do you need some time to get prepared, or shall we jump into it?"  
_The robot stares back, oddly unblinking, and seemingly cold from the outside._ “The truth is I do not know, for example I don't appreciate being turned into a Christmas tree for one, but the truth be told the line for me has begun to blur, I can't say its hatred or care, just a void. But enough semantics, feel free to tell him, he can visit and I was under the expression he saw. But no just do it, the faster the pain the better, just avoid joints like I said or simon the simpleton will complain.”  
Damon quickly records the results of the suppression test. "If your sure. VLP-N use your Combat Protocol on Julian once, and please try avoiding his joints." _Damon's GREMLIN, which has an orange decal, floats over and "blast" Julian with a small jolt of electricity. Damon watches intently, trying to see if there are any visible signs of Julian's self-repair._  
_The robot mostly remains soundless but there is a very slight sound of pain from within but little more than that and after a moment millions of tiny sparks rush to repair the frayed wires and smaller pieces on their own working up to larger pieces until finally most if not all of. the minor damage is repaired_ "All nanos reporting functional sir, it appears I am at optimum capacity."  
Damon writes down one final thing on the checklist. "I can agree, it looks like you'll be able to go onto the field as soon as a mission is ready for you." _He goes to offer Julian his hand, but then realizes he doesn't want his hand crushed, so he awkwardly sets it back down to his side._ "Well, it's been good working with you. I guess I'll see you around Julian."  
The robot nods. “And also with you, when I am summoned I shall answer, and I can shake hands, before your going to ask, but for now, get rest, I have someone to visit. _He offers bowing his head before stepping out of the room and setting out down the avengers hall leaving Damon to himself._


	50. Ep 49 - Operation Flying Vagabond 2 (Assassin's Stonghold)

**Ep 49-----Operation Flying Vagabond 2 (Assassin Stronghold)------------------**  
Journal Entry 26#   
Name: Will 'Billy-Terror' Blazkivitz   
Date: 29th December 2035   
Operation: Flying Vagabond

Well, time to take on a chosen in their own house, The Assassin no less. Working with my main girl Kohlla, Rodats, Mr E, Eternal and the other new guy. Pineapple. Rocking the yellow like myself and Kohlla here which made the Commander joke that we were the yellow team, first, this guy needs to prove himself if he's Yellow Team material, sir, we shall see. I'm looking forward to taking down that purple bitch.

We drop in and immediately the Assassin taunts us for coming into her house, well knock knock you freak and we're not here to sell girl scout cookies. Rodats scouts behind us as the rest of the squad stacks up on a door, Rodats discovers a Shieldbearer and Adult Celatid at some dead end according to him. The layout of this place meant we could sneak around if we wanted so we decided to leave them in our dust. 

Rodats catches up and spies a stronger force patrolling a hanger. A Lancer, another Shieldbearer, a Heavy MEC and something new, a Bio MEC. The squad dashes into ambush positions and as I spy the Bio MEC coming around the corner I try to hit it with my pistol, no luck though as it misses. Now to start the real fight.

As the enemy responds to us Rodats runs back into better cover surprising the Bio MEC as like me takes a random shot but ends up missing him, our Reaper then aims at this box between the ADVENT forces and boom I swore the room shook for a second there. He caused serious damage to both MEC units and the Shieldbearer but it didn't stop there, Pineapple did what his call sign ad known for and then blew them up with a plasma grenade before throwing down the turret for support. The turret was okay as cover for Mr E as he took out the Bio MEC, Eternal blasted away the Heavy MEC and my partner cut down the Shieldbearer. 

Meanwhile, I aimed my sights at the Lancer and shoved my new plasma lance right into his torso, he took offence to that as he passed everyone in the team to strike me in the back but learning a trick or two from Kohlla was sure handy as I dodged his blow. Rodats comes to my aid and puts down the Lancer before Kohlla gets a chance to come to my aid. I give my partner a thumbs up stating I was fine before the squad regrouped now avoiding some fire in the hanger.

Then the team was discovered by some heavier forces, a Muton Prime escorted by three Archon Valkyries, female Archons go figure. Well, we weren't in the best spot so we decided to pull back into better cover and wait for these freak and galls to come to us in a nice overwatch trap. Tough and nimble bitches though as one dodges my shot but easily tanks Eternal's blast while another tanks a shot from Pineapple.

Kohlla hits all three Archon bitches with her slash and wave combo before bugging out allowing the turret, Pineapple and I to gun down one wounded Archon while Eternal and Rodats killed another. Mr E came in to hit the remaining one with his Plasma Bolt, however, the Muton Primes come in and assists the last Valkyrie by shooting our turret buddy and the Archon cow finishes it off, she even looked empowered by her killing it. 

We strike back as Kohlla slashes at the Valkyrie knocking her over while Pineapple flanks the Muton Prime laying down a hail of plasma fire to which the Muton runs to closer cover only for Mr E to put it down with a Plasma Bolt. Meanwhile, Eternal followed up on Kohlla's attack and blasts the Archon which allowed me to finish the Valkyrie by shooting her in the tits. Can't believe I get paid for this. Anyway, with that done we keep searching for the Assassin.

We eventually find this really important room that didn't have consoles, weapons, ships or torture devices but we also found something else, guard dogs in the form of three Chrysalids and one big as King Chrysalid, fantastic, we found Papa Bug and his kids. 

It took more than half the squad to put down the King, Pineapple shredded the bastard with Plasma fire, Eternal followed up with a couple full powered shots, Mr E penetrated it's carapace with a Plasma bolt then with my both plasma pistol and lance I managed to put down down the big guy. Papa bug was down but it took more than half the squad for one but and we had three roaches to deal with, Kohlla gets an idea and calls over to me for an assist to soften one of the Chrysalids. I oblige and use my pistol tear one up before Kohlla kills it with a sword slash.

My partner then blocks on the swipe of a Chrysalid but the other manages to hit my partner in the back, Eternal and Rodats come in with the assist blasting down one each before Mr E heals up Kohlla. With that all done we move into the room, some kind of strange teleporter, we all get on it before Kohlla presses a button then I remember a blinding purple light...

We found ourselves in this even bigger elaborate room, so this is where she was shacked up huh? Well, knock knock bitch XCOM is kicking in your door. Rodats runs up and scouts out a Codex with an Inferno Viper. I decided to take my sights on the Codex and take it down with one shot. Mr E joins me in the 'one shot one kill' team by wiping out the snake as well with a plasma bolt. Then after setting up positions, the real fight begins. The Assassin came in.

Very long story short it was a gruelling battle where the bitch was striking up as well as calling in ADVENT lapdog servants, any damage she or her cronies did heal her up as we poured shot after shot into the bitch. I lost count of the times we killed her as I had to deal with a sword wound not to mention I was pissed off at the number of attacks thrown to my partner. Anyway, each time she died we had to shoot up this hovering sarcophagus that held her regenerating body, after destroying it we had a chance to put her down once and for all. After many shots poured into the purple cow my partner gets the final blow. The Assassin in response ports over to her broken sarcophagus declaring we were worthy of a fight and wishes us well in retaking our planet before committing seppuku.

Damn that was a long fight and every other ADVENT soldier still up aiding her just stopped... Working. They stood there like living drone statues which was just weird... We had an easy extraction out not that I was complaining. Everyone got hit and we're all gonna be hitting the beds once we get back to the Avenger. Still, one down and two to go. We're coming for you freaks. Signing off.

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Enshrouded in the purple vortex of energy via which the Ascension Chamber teleported it’s occupants, the soldiers of the XCOM Strike team materialized within a complex deep beneath Earth’s oceans. The design of the facility was regal and beautiful, and bore an aesthetic never before seen by any of the squad. The moment the team materialized, they launched an attack, striking out against a pair of aliens who were completely unaware of the threat before them. The teleportation energy had only just dissipated into thin air by the time the bodies of the aliens hit the floor, torn to pieces by a barrage of bullets. With their arrival no longer unannounced, the squad drew the attention of their target, the Assassin, whom entered the fray before vanishing into the same nothingness that the teleportation energy had. Slowly she stalked across the battlefield, before reappearing from the shadows to strike out at Kohlla. The Templar’s armour took the brunt of the blow, though Zoey was knocked to the ground, unconscious. Before retreating to better cover, the Assassin summoned a squad of ADVENT medics, each in their own pillars of purple light. With their comrade’s life, and mission on the line, the squad acted fast, getting her back to her feet - albeit in a disoriented state. All around Durand, ADVENT Trooper after ADVENT Trooper hit the ground, their bodies eviscerated by gunfire and sword stroke. The Assassin withdrew back into the safety of invisibility, granting Zoey and the team a brief reprieve, during which the former recovered from her stupor. With her proper mental capacity returned to her, Zoey quickly channelled her psionic abilities into a weave of corporeal energy that took shape, forging a human figure above the corpse of one of her foes - given the role that the shattered psyche of body’s former host played in the “Ghost”’s generation. The Ghost rushed forward, spurred forth by the anger that burnt the blood of it’s creator, plunging a pair of shimmering blades that it generated out from it’s wrists into the Assassin’s form. In turn, the Chosen returned to finish her prior job, lashing out at Zoey with another saber strike that left her dazed once more. BJ rushed over to his fallen partner, bringing her back to reality. With her mind focused once again on the task at hand, Zoey’s mind raced with thoughts of fury and revenge, and she weaved them into her shard gauntlets. The twin blades lanced into the Assassin’s body, tearing through her armour and flesh as the Chosen roared in agony; agony that Kohlla drank in with an emotion almost best described as eager glee. The Assassin remained alive, though not for long, as her body was torn to pieces by a hail of gunfire. 

The creature’s corpse was engulfed in the signature purple glow of a teleport field, as it returned to its place of hiding to rest and recover. Twice more, the room was illuminated with the same flash of light, as two ADVENT Troopers were brought into the fray to protect their master. Almost immediately, Kohlla sped towards them, driving both of her weapons deep into the body of the ADVENT duelist, leaving it exposed for a followup attack delivered by Magnusson’s blade. The trooper’s demise allowed Kohlla to extract some of it’s psionic resonance in it’s last, fleeting moments, which she absorbed and weaved into psionic energy. The Assassin returned to the battlefield, spouting her usual gospel about the glory of herself and the Elders. Taking advantage of the moment, the Rocket Trooper struck out at his comrade’s killers, attacking the pair with an explosive blast. Kohlla generated a psionic shield around herself in the brief few moments that she had before the blast fully engulfed her, keeping herself safe from harm, though she could not do the same for Magnusson. Magnusson responded to the attack with one of his own, eviscerating the Rocket Trooper with a shotgun blast. With no other options, the Commander ordered Zoey through the acid left by the explosion, singeing her body and armour. Further chaos followed, as Blazkivitz was attacked from the shadows by the Assassin, sending him to the ground in a haze just as she had with Will’s partner. A brief blast of electricity returned Blazkivitz to consciousness, though now he was surrounded by the Assassin - and the underlings she had summoned. With her closest ally in trouble, Zoey rushed into the fray to protect Blazkivitz, tearing through one of the ADVENT Troopers right as Will finished him off with a round from his pistol. Another of troopers met a similar fate, whilst another threw down a smoke grenade and the last of the trio attacked Kohlla. Within the span of a split-second, the Templar generated another psionic shield, warding off the attack, though not the one that followed. The Assassin churned up a wave of psionic energy, and lanced it towards the XCOM Operatives, sending Durand and Pineapple to the ground, their minds clouded by the mayhem of the attack. Both were brought back to the matter at hand by Deathscope and Huntsman respectively, at which point Kohlla opened fire on a claymore deployed earlier by the Reaper, engulfing the Assassin in a ball of flame and shrapnel. Moving forward, Magnusson and Blazkivitz both pelted the Chosen with an onslaught of shots, though she remained intact. The Ghost rushed into the fray, attacking and killing one of the Troopers, though in its final moments, the psionic energy of the Ghost was stolen and absorbed by the Assassin in order to sustain herself before cloaking once more. The last trooper opened fire on Pineapple, missing it’s quarry. The Trooper wasn’t given a chance to correct it’s mistake and fire again, as it fell victim to the rage and fury behind Kohlla’s blades not even moments later. The Templar extracted the Trooper’s agony, breathing a shaky gasp of satisfaction as the alien met its end. 

With her underlings destroyed, the Assassin emerged from the shadows to strike another who clung to them - Deathscope. Her strike hit him with such potency that he was thrown to the ground, before fleeing. Kohlla saw her opportunity, and took it without second thought. After a brief moment of conversation with her companion, she enveloped him and herself in a flash of psionic energy, swapping places. She emerged from the pillar of light as her blades crackled with energy, and immediately plunged them into the Assassin’s form. The Chosen roared with anger and reared back, conjuring a harbour wave that returned Zoey to a state of unconsciousness. Huntsman ended her stupor, but was delivered into his own at the hands of the Assassin’s blade. Now, quite literally cornered, the Assassin was struck with a volley of bullets, leaving her in a critical condition. She tried to make her escape, even covering her tracks with the blinding flash of one of her grenades, though her theatrics did not allow her to escape the gaze of Zoey. Driven by rage, from all the pain and constant disorientation, the Templar rushed forward, ripping through the Assassin’s body with both blades, drinking in her agony as the body of her foe disincorporated into a wisp of teleportation energy that snaked back into the regeneration chamber. Two bright flashes of a similar colouration marked the conjuration of another pair of teleports, bringing two ADVENT Troopers to the fray. Regardless of the efforts of their enemies, the soldiers pushed through, eviscerating the chamber with a hail of blasts. The Assassin was dragged back into the fight, weakened and wounded. One of the troopers was torn to shreds by Kohlla’s blades, his body being struck by slash after slash until his body was a pile of vivisected chunks. The other Trooper met a similar end, though Deathscope assisted in its demise with a blast from his rifle, though ultimately it was Kohlla’s shard gauntlets that dealt the final, agonizing blow. Now all that remained was the Assassin.

Log 25: Zoey “Kohlla” Durand  
12/29/2035  
A fitting end for that coward. She would rather die by her own blade than any of ours. I know most people think this to be honourable, but to flee from a fight, by any means, even suicide, is a cowardly act. And as the queen of the cowards, it comes to me as no surprise it was how the Assassin died. Even moments before the end, she tried to flee her fate by summoning more of her slaves, though they weren’t enough to keep the Assassin from facing the punishment she deserved. 

I stood before the Assassin, as she tried to protect herself. She struck out at me with her blade, though I quickly parried it away, her sloppy bladework leaving her susceptible to such. She knew this, and so she fled, running through the smoke to try and hide - but I wouldn’t let her. After everything she had done, all the suffering and hurt she had caused, I would never have let her live. I gave chase, running through the smoke, my eyes locked with her form as she held her blade ahead of her. With a quick downwards cleave, I knocked it away, leaving her exposed. I swung my blades back, and then drove them deep into her chest, staring into her eyes as my own flickered and flared with psionic energy. I could feel her pain, her agony. I could feel her fear too. This was the end for her, and we both knew it, as I pressed my weapons deeper into her, my mind was no longer consumed by anger. All I felt was the satisfaction of knowing justice had been done. This was for everyone she had hurt, this was for me, for Will. For Diego. I could feel her life force fading, but I refused to give her a painless death - but fortunately for her, I was not in control of how she died. 

With one last trick, the Assassin disappeared in a flash of energy, reforming only a short distance away. She spoke her final words, and then ended her life. We dispatched the troopers, and collected the Assassin’s corpse and weaponry. There was no celebration, only silence. I don’t think any of us believed that we had finally done it, that we had finally killed her. All this time, we had thought we could win, and this was proof. One of the Chosen, the Elder’s favoured children, laid dead at our feet. The Elder’s debts are still yet to be repaid, but the loss of the Assassin goes a hell of a long way to making up for it.

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Reapers Log: 34  
December 29, 2035.  
Operation: Flying Vagabond.  
For once, we actually done something that significantly improved our chances of taking out Advent, once and for all. We actually took down one of the chosen, permanently. It had to be the Assassin though. Not that she’s a pain, she definitely is, but I was hoping for someone like the Hunter instead. I had the honor to participate in this mission, but I also had to push my body to the limits, physically and mentally. Hell, for once i’m actually in the infirmary with the rest of the squad, the whole squad! I think if it wasn’t for our adrenaline, we would’ve passed out when we were fighting that chosen.

Before we went off on the mission, which had me of course, with Numbers, Zoey, Will, Pineapple, and Magnusson. We need to bring out the big guns, and we were the ones who fit in that category.

When we first arrived at this Assassins, “Stronghold”, which was basically this massive complex of rooms we had to navigate and fight through, it was surprisingly relatively easy. I managed to find a nice opportunity while we were in the room that was holding the dropships to blow up some stuff. We weren’t going in stealth. The Assassin already knew we were here when we stepped foot in this place. Once we blown them up, we had to hold our ground for this patrol that happen to stumble by us. They simply charged straight in the room, not caring about cover, so we managed to dispatch those ones easy. The muton on the other hand, he simply stayed in the back, dressed up for some kind of fashion show. Instead of wearing that green armor, it was silk, smooth, and shiny red. But it still looked like armor I admit. He simply stayed back and took a couple of shots at us while we were trying to clean up the fools who ran straight into the room.

We found ourselves after several minutes of going room to room towards this room that looks like all of us have to stand on. A platform with stairs leading up to it. The problem was, it was guarded by a bunch of chrysalids. So what odd decided for us to do, was to have everyone with a sword or gauntlet go up close to the chrysalid to slash at them away, while us snipers and gunners were in the back having to shoot at the chrysalid without shooting at people like Vagabond or Zoey.

And it worked like a charm. The only thing the chrysalids actually did was cause a decent sized scratch on Zoeys arm, which Huntsman gremlin healed straight away. With nothing stopping us from facing the chosen for the last time, we all went in together, to end the Assassins reign once and for all.

After what appears to be waking up from a dream, we all found ourselves in this huge chamber, with cover everywhere you look, and in almost each corner, there was 4 pillars lined together with a decent sized wall around it. Not big enough to block it off from being hopped over, but still big enough to be a wall. When we were approaching towards the front of the chamber, we spotted some nearby aliens, so Will immediately took down the codex, and Huntsman following suit on the viper I believe.

With the aliens dead, Odd ordered me to go ahead of the group to see if there’s anymore aliens we had to deal with, which was none. The rest of the squad stand back as I went to the front of the chamber, with this pedestal and steps like this was some kind of church. Before I knew it, the Assassin arrived in her new armor, ready to play on the defensive. To fight for not only her honor, but for her existence as well. It was then a battle that I will never forget.

Obviously, I fell back. Much to Odds satisfaction at least. That’s when she swooped in and knocked Zoey out, adding another battle scar to her torso. Obviously she didn’t die, she’s tougher than what the Assassin can deal out in 1 blow. It was also when she noticed me, since I could tell that she looked in my direction and smirked, with the same facial feature I always give, since I know stealth isn’t going to benefit me much in this fight.

I really can’t picture how the fight exactly played out due to the condition i’m currently in. I do know that at one point, I became one of the assassins targets to slash, probably because she got bored of slashing Zoey over and over again, only to have Huntsman heal the wounds she causes. I wonder if she’s mentally training herself to increase her pain tolerance by having the assassin do that to her.

The doctors told me that slash could’ve killed me, but it didn’t. I told them that I would’ve lived, no matter how fast she striked her sword, only to have the doctors nod their heads in disagreement. It gone from my stomach, up to my windpipe. No internal organs were slashed, only the skin and broke some of the bones. I never had a broken bone before, and I will enjoy having to go into physical therapy after 2 weeks of recovery. Though I could do that by myself as well.

Ow! Dammit. I think I wrote enough for today. I need to focus on healing my body and mind soon, or I won’t be coming out of this bed with mental scars.  
-Rodats, Out.

-End Of Log.

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Firebrand's personal log - January 1st 2036 (Entry #47)

It's a new year. A year without Bitch #1. I'm back in our hangar ... and I'm very happy. The team has got her good. It was a long fight from what Central told me. I couldn't get the feed back so I didn't know what was going on. And I didn't want to bother Central any further, he was too focused on the fight. It was the longest hour of my life until I got the message that they were ready for pick-up. All of them, no casualties. Hell yes.

The Commander was quite ecstatic too. Central said that the man in charge didn't know what to do first after we got rid of the Assassin. Yeah, I think I understand him. Anyway, we really need to keep moving ... (noise of something falling in the background) What in God's name is happening?

(further objects fall on the floor, before Central's warning about evasive maneuvers sounds) (further minutes of silence)

That damn UFO found us ... Central is trying to outmaneuver it ... 

(log goes silent as the EMP blast hits Avenger)

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Damon Night’s Audio Log: January 1st, 2035  
(The recording picks back up from where it ended.) Damn, I got to admit the Chosen’s personal chamber looked so much cooler than the portal room. I don’t know if it’s located in the facility itself or somewhere else, but my appreciation aside. Upon entering the room the squad came across this massive floating pillar, it was also a sight to behold, and according to Central, it might just be the stasis chamber the Chosen regenerate at. Blazkivitz found a Viper and a Codex, nothing too difficult, hell, he even killed the Codex. Right after that Mr. E killed the Viper. Rodats covered most of the left hand side of the room before the Chosen was actually found, turns out she was just lurking under her pillar. While everyone was positioning themselves, the Assassin charged in and stabbed Kohlla, dazing her in the process. She then summoned several Advent soldiers to her position. She ran away after that, leaving the squad to deal with the troops she had pulled in. After the Advent soldiers died, the Assassin teleported away, forcing the squad to look for her before she strikes from the shadows. Luckily Blazkivitz was able to find her, and took a pretty well placed shot at her with his pistol. After taking a few more hits, the Assassin charged in and stabbed Kohlla again! I think she has some sort of personal vendetta against her. It took a few more well coordinated attacks before the Assassin finally fell, leaving her and her stasis chamber vulnerable. Two more Advent soldiers teleported in to defend their Chosen “master.” Too busy dealing with the Advent soldiers, the squad was unable to do much to the Chosen’s stasis chamber. Yet again, after her troops death, the Assassin hid away. This time the squad was unable to find her in time, and Blazkivitz took a hit from the Assassin’s sword, after that she summoned even more troops. A few troops died before the Assassin ran out of a smoke “wall,” given to her by an ally, to fire a rift of psionic energy at Kohlla and Pineapple, dazing them. I think this is the third time the Assassin has gone after Kohlla just to daze her. After running around for a bit, the Assassin got hit really hard by a few well placed “bullets” and decided to vanish again. This time when she came out of hiding she stabbed Rodats, and sent him flying over a ledge, now, while I do feel bad for the guy, that was just too hilarious not to laugh at. After getting sliced up by Kohlla, the Chosen fired off another of her Psi waves, dazing Kohlla for the fourth time, and I can’t help but feel bad for her as well. I’m thinking, maybe instead of publicly buying them rounds, I’ll just sneak a special something into the Infirmary for everyone who was wounded, and deliver something to anyone who wasn’t. A few more exchanges and the Assassin almost died, but Kohlla just barely missed. Everyone was worried when she ran towards Mr. E, but instead of dealing a killing blow, she just threw a flasbang. Kohlla was able to finish off the Assassin again after that. Luckily, the soldiers were given enough time to not only damage the pillar a few times, but to actually destroy. Sadly, a few Advent reinforcements arrived again to protect one of the Elder’s greatest assets, but they came too late, with the Assassin losing her ability to regenerate health, this will be her final battle. Yet again, when everyone thought Mr. E was going to die, Advent goofed! The only living Advent soldier threw some form of a flashbang, instead of delivering a killing blow, giving the squad more than enough time to finish him off. The wounded Chosen didn’t stand a chance, and after a few exchanges, she was finally killed. Thank the Lord above that this monster has been felled.  
After that amazing event, we continued to make contact with East Asia, and during that time one of the SPARK upgrades for Julian finished, as well as that, the Covert operatives came back with the location of the Warlock’s stronghold. The next Covert Op was to continue the hunt on the Chosen Warlock. During my free time, I asked around the Avenger for what Kohlla, Blazkivitz, Mr. E, Pineapple, Magnusson, and Rodats personal preference of alcoholic beverages. It took awhile, but I finally got everything and left them outside of their rooms, or near their bunks if they were in the Infirmary, the nurse obviously didn’t approve, but I “persuaded” her with a spare bottle of scotch that it was fine. We stopped making contact for a bit, just to head out to the Black Market, still didn’t get the chance for shore leave though, with all the wounded, I was actually needed down in the Infirmary, imagine that.  
Just when everyone thought we would get a tiny bit of down time, we were intercepted by that damn U.F.O. that has been following us around. The thing hit us with an electromagnetic pulse, shutting off our engines and forcing us to make an emergency landing. Luckily, there won’t be any Chosen at our landing spot, but they did have some sort of spire that was constantly releasing the same pulse, keeping us on the ground. I’m scared to say several severely wounded troops were sent on the field, they weren’t battle ready yet, but the Commander ordered it. I just hope they come back safe. God, I wish we had a Defense Matrix built, those turrets could help save lives.  
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War recount 44 part 2

[CONTINUING LOG ON NEW PAGE]  
And the real fight did indeed begin. The squad went through the teleporter finding what the brainiacs in the lab are calling the Sarcophagus. The fight went about the same each time, Assassin runs in attacks Kohlla, Kohlla gets dazed, Assassin calls in reinforcements, reinforcements die, Assassin attacks someone else. That happened three times with random garnishes of close calls of death and waves of psionic energy until the Chosen's Sarcophagus was destroyed and the Assassins final form was diced into tiny bits by Kohlla. Though the Chosen using whatever ounce of willpower she had left ended her own life after stating that we had earned the right to take back our world. So we've killed both the Viper King and the Assassin, the Commander didn't even know what to do after the victory, he looked absolutely exhausted just like all the soldiers. I informed all the resistance Comms Officers of what happened and none of them even knew how to respond, Pox let go of his rock solid professional attitude and let out a huge sigh of relief. Pharaoh acted less like her normal bossy self and said a slight prayer in some language I didn't understand and when I pressed further all I got was that it was for all the Templars hurt by the Assassin. Khane cracked jokes but when I started to organize the final hunt for the Warlock he went serious again. This time I decided to ask why he always changes attitude and the only reason he gave was that the Warlock "ended" his "previous" family. Well that seems to be the last bit of information for nosdecfvgbhnjmk the power just went out gbhnj dammit my doors locked Bradford never could fly to save his life and now he can't do it to save ours.  
Signing out  
Jebediah Primm

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DISPLAY LOG (ROV-R)  
<1345:20 29.12.2035> begin PML-047  
<1345:21 29.12.2035> Combat footage unavailable for analysis. Initializing post-mission scan…  
<1345:30 29.12.2035> Medical alert: Envenomation, Penetrative lacerations, Concussion, Shrapnel, Chemical burns  
REQUESTING URGENT MEDICAL ASSISTANCE for MAJ. WILL ‘BILLYTERROR’ BLAZKIVITZ  
CPT. ALEX ‘RODATS’ DEATHSCOPE  
Location: SKYRANGER HELIPAD

COL. ZOEY ‘KOHLLA’ DURAND  
MAJ. MR ‘E’ HUNTSMAN

PLEASE REPORT TO THE INFIRMARY IMMEDIATELY

MAJ. CONNOR ‘ETERNAL’ MAGNUSSON  
CPT. ALEX ‘RODATS’ DEATHSCOPE

CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR PROMOTIONS  
<1347:00 29.12.2035> Syncing combat GREMLIN units…  
<1352:58 29.12.2035> Sync complete.  
CHANGELOG:  
CML-N has updated ‘CHOSEN’ enemy class definition  
REF-IL TESSURA has been removed from ‘CHOSEN’ enemy class  
<1355:14 29.12.2035> Inventory update: + Salvage  
<1400:30 29.12.2035> Play: Ding Dong the Witch is Dead – Barbra Streisand

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Derek Walters. Audio Log Entry 19: I managed to sneak out of the Avenger under Bradford's nose, and managed to find a Resistance Haven. What luck! And with this, I've got good news and bad news. Good news? I managed to get a hold of a huge supply of food and drink. Unfortunately, I had to trade a... borrowed... plasma rifle in order to get it. And Bradford was waiting for me when I got back. He wasn't happy. Dish duty for three weeks. He also remarked that I was having a weird personality change as of late. Having a better sense of fun. Probably right. Either way. We'll be having one hell of a party tonight, and it was all worth it!

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XCOM database

31/12/2035

Julians log

log 7

Finally. The deed is done. I may not hold emotional attachment as high on the scale of importance as my companions but all in all vengeance is an emotion I understand all too well, and while I’m sad I wasn’t able to take part in the festivity of wiping the cursed creature from the planet that held my creator and now holds my blessed form, it is still all too sweet to see her weapons locked in our armory and her body laid out like so much garbage in the trophy room. It was in fact quite the drawn out battle, and while I’d give the play by play I know it shall be recorded as one of the crowning moments of XCOMs history in the logs and in others logs, so I’ll merely give my own thoughts. It was without a doubt a slaughter in there, the area’s beauty (which i would have loved to study) paled in comparison to the finely tuned killing machine that was our soldiers, wave upon wave fell, and with each fall of Assassin’s the soldiers of the flesh surpassed the damage and struck a blow for XCOM. Not to say this battle was at all easy, the being would constantly dart in and out stealing vitality from the beings flesh and psionics all before withdrawing into the night with a curse on her lips. But even this was not enough, twice more she fell and on one the pillar she used to regenerate fell to oblivion, cheers were made, tears were shed, and fuck yous were shared, for the first time since the man I’d come to respect alongside sir Nights had fallen, I saw hope in the people's eyes, they came home, shattered, in pain, but victorious despite the limits I thought they had. In other news on the Avenger, I am now ready for active service, and have made a friend. While I still say that fleshlings are inferior to my robotic form capable of rebuild and numerous other things, I have come to make meeting with one of the soldier engineer hybrids, Damon, a regular occurrence, we speak on tech, the war, and life in general and it makes for a refreshing change from the tedium, I may even visit him in the bar today.

alarms blare

Speaking of garbage, it seems one of the elders bastard children wants a piece of us for the death of their sibling, the avenger may crash, but this time it has me guarding it, I may have fallen before, but this time, they shall be the ones to tremble. I now report to the bay for deployment, Julian out.

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Personal Log #17, Major Jenny Fleet - December 31, 2035

Happy New Years! That Chosen Assassin is finally down for good after the team went in and assaulted her stronghold, although most everyone came back in pretty rough shape. Things are getting rather busy in the Infirmary.

I got released for my wounds, but now I'm being kept here for intense therapy to help my problems panicking when other squadmates panic. This means I'm out for several days and unavailable for missions as well.

We also found the Chosen Warlock stronghold, and I really hope I'm back soon enough to go take him out. We also apparently still have a UFO on our tail.

Right now we're on our way to the Black Market to try to pick up some supplies. I've got to tell you, it'd gotten pretty tedious spending over two weeks in the infirmary. I'm really itching to get out of here.

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	51. Ep 50 - Avenger Defense (UFO Hunt) - Operation Amber Glove

**Ep 50-----Avenger Defense (UFO Hunt)-Operation Amber Glove---------------**  
Journal Entry 27#   
Name: Will 'Billy-Terror' Blazkivitz   
Date: 1st January 2036   
Operation: UFO Avenger Defence

Well, this was a kick in the nuts, here we were waiting for the new year to come around and ADVENT decides to jump us with our pants down. Guess taking out one of their Chosen really, really pissed them off. The Avenger was shot down but luckily we didn't blow up on the way down. The Commander was calling all hands on deck for this mission else we may lose it all, on freaking New Years of all days... I could tell Zoey didn't like it when I raised my hand up from her bed but they needed a damn good shot for covering fire purposes. Apparently, there was some device keeping the Avenger down so it was up to Rodats and me to blast it while Tau, Doc, Homer and Beast provide us with covering fire. 

I walk down to the front lines as everyone else rushes past, hey I'm still wounded alright and besides some needs to keep their cool. Rodats runs up ahead to scout while the rest of uptake positions waiting for any Alien scum to make itself known to us but as our Reaper finds an Andromedon escorted by two Spectres Mr E comes down thanks to Central's orders. Rodats just runs past them showing the remaining ADVENT/Alien forces but also gets eyes on the device. I get a spot to take an aim shot as the team holds down the fort. The team even manage to gun down the Andromedon before Mr E manages to shoot a Spectre forcing it to swerve in such a way that I had a pistol shot damaging a lot of the small bugs bots.

Meanwhile, I try to give the wounded XBOT a shot but it learns to duck but no matter I decided to focus on the device putting a damn serious hole in it, Rodats joins in by first getting away from a nearby ADVENT patrol and blows the thing up with a shot from the shadows. The Avenger was powering up. Meanwhile, Beast fries the Andromedon shell with his electro whip thing before he pulls in the non wounded Spectre to our gun line just for him and Doc to put it up together, Tau blasts the Andromedon shell and wounded Spectre before blowing all his ammo destroying said Spectre all while Homer sends in his bot to put down the Andromedon shell. Mr E spies a Viper coming in at us and tries to take a shot but only manage to destroy her cover.

With that, the ADVENT forces pile in after seeing their device blown up and the Avenger getting ready to take off but we had other plans. Everyone piled in into the Avenger even Beast staying back to making sure Rodats made it back safely, I could hear the plasma and mag gunfire hitting the hanger doors as they shut. We had done, that's now XCOM 2, Alien Bastards 0. With that I got pulled into bed, the stress of battle while wounded and tired got to me... I had this horrible nightmare...

I was back in those subway tunnels at the moment when I was grabbed by one of the Vipers, the rest of the team put down the other but this time ADVENT reinforcements came in delaying my rescue. I remember glaring at the Viper as she coiled around me crush me but then I felt worried before feeling a cold sweat. The Viper looked like she was enjoying this way too much, I saw her snake tongue lick her lips as I spy one of her hands ripping off part of my armour before she reaches into the hole in my armor feeling around. Then just as she tightens the binding hold feeling like my back was about to break and my lungs now choked being denied air all while her hand snaked lower, thankfully I woke up with a gasp breathing deeply as my mind thought I was being choked still and looks around to see I was in bed. I saw Zoey asleep resting in her bad so I knew I was safe... Fucking hell what a dream... Maybe I should see the guy who deals with psych crap on the Avenger... That was... Ugh... Not saying any more, we won, on new years. 

Happy Fucking Years everyone, signing off.

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Firebrand's personal log - January 5th 2036 (Entry #48)

Finally got this thing working again, thanks to Shen. Tech Wonder Woman, that one. Anyway ... the Avenger was successfully defended from ADVENT, without even breaking a sweat. It was all done in like ... 10 minutes or so? Our stealth master, Rodats, sneaked in swiftly towards the EMP disruptor placed outside. BJ pulled the trigger once ... then Rodats snuck in another hit from under ADVENT noses and the disruptor was gone. Then all he had to do was avoid a few enemy pods on the way back to the Avenger ramp. Which he did without any issues ...

As a note ... both Rodats and BJ were badly injured. So, basically, ADVENT had been outplayed by a couple of guys in crutches. Or two men dragging IVs behind them. Or other such Infirmary-related images. You get the point.

After putting everything back in order in the hangar and making sure the Ranger is in top shape, I took two days off. I told Central I don't want to be bothered, period. Unless it was a mission. When I finally got out and about, we were in New India, searching for intel. Did some more Ranger maintenance. Visited the barracks and the bar. Had a few drinks with some of the soldiers. Just a way to celebrate the New Year for me. Others might have already done that. But better late than never, yeah?

Just as I was returning to the hangar ... mission alert. Somewhere in Eastern Europe ... Psionic transmitter sabotage. Alright then ... Let's roll, Menace 1-5.

Firebrand out.

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Damon Nights’ Audio Log: January 4th, 2035  
So, the Avenger was attacked on the First of this month, I would have reviewed it live, but it was actually kind of short. Not that I’m complaining, hell, I’m glad we got out of there when we did. I really wish the Commander sent out some lower ranking troops, just so that these guys could recover. Off the bat, Rodats was sent to scout out the position of the Disrupter, while the rest of the squad hung back. Central thought it would be a good idea to send out some reinforcements, though I didn’t see them. While Blazkivitz positioned himself, a few Aliens moved against the rest of the squad, but didn’t really make any leeway, they even got hit in the process. Rodats was forced to reposition himself, due to there being several Advent soldiers near his position. But I got some great news! With two shots, one from Rodats and one from Blazkivitz, the Disrupter fell! I think that might have been the fastest mission we have on record! Even though the mission had ended, the squad decided to stay behind and kill a few more Aliens. Rodats had to sprint to cover the distance, but he made it back to the “evac” platform just in time for take-off.  
I’m afraid to say a few soldiers developed some fears over that mission, but that kind of thing can be “fixed,” I think. The Commander ordered the Shadow Chamber to be upgraded, which means we now have a semi-functional Alien portal inside of our ship. Personally, I don’t like the sound of that, but I guess it’s supposed to help us. While we were making contact with Asia, the Commander thought it would be a better idea to gather some intel. I don’t understand why he goes out of his way to do so, when we could just spend some time with the Reapers and get the “same” amount, if not more. More progress was made on the Avatar project, but not enough to make us worry, yet. Kept up the search for intel for a few days, and during that time our SPARK upgrade completed, as well as construction of a Laboratory.  
Before anything else of interest happened, a new Guerilla Operation came available. I hear it took a lot of consideration, but the Commander finally decided to stop the remaining Chosen from sharing information. This mission requires a squad to go out and destroy a transmitter of some kind which is what I’m assuming the Chosen are using to share their intel. The reward is a Colonel Specialist, but I don’t think we actually need him, we have enough Specialists already, the extra supplies or intel offered by the other missions were much more appealing. Collux was sent out on this mission, I know he can handle himself pretty damn well, but I hope he comes back alive. I wish them the best of luck.

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War recount 46

The Avenger is safe and sound gladly. Though you can see that due to the fact that I'm typing in English and not whatever it is Advent's language is called. After I was let out of my room I didn't go confront Bradford about locking me in because I saw that all non combat personnel had been locked in. Whether it was the EMP or something to keep us out of the way I didn't check, didn't want to make a scene and create a very powerful enemy at the same time. Rodats scouted and BJ shot which was the winning strategy that made this mission possibly be the quickest mission in XCOM history. The team even had enough time to "treasure hunt" near the location while the remaining Advent tried to figure out how to follow us. The next plan is to hunt the Warlock when we send word to the resistance contacts around him and get access to his stronghold. I've been talking to Pharaoh, the Templar Comms Officer for fun recently (my fun, she hates me) and she's definitely not the sharing type. I almost told her my own life story for a minute when I was prodding for hers, she denied all claims that she did anything with psionics to me but I know what I felt. The conversation ended when she scrambled to leave as I heard a voice in the background, it kinda sounded like that Geist guy except softer, less bad ass leader and more talking to a loved one. I'm sure it was no one, probably just a boyfriend, why do I feel slightly jealous, this is getting weird.  
Signing out  
Jebediah Primm

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XCOM database  
Julians log  
log 8

Today’s defense was a shining example of the organization i have come to call home. As much as i dislike the imperfections of the flesh this team of men and women may even be considered equals by me one day. All in all while I am disappointed in the fact I wasn't able to rally to battle with the others it was still magnificent to see. The disruptor was destroyed in a matter of moments by the reaper and sniper who of course snuck in without so much as setting off an Advent team, and a slaughter later we left them broken and bleeding while we escaped far into the night sky. The effort however was strenuous, and I am needed to aid in infirmary duty; beneath me as it is.

I shall give more thoughts when time is given

Julian out


	52. Ep 51 - Operation Frost Fist

**Ep 51-----Operation Frost Fist-------------------------------------------------------------**  
Log 26: Zoey “Kohlla” Durand  
05/01/2036  
\--- Post-Mission  
After killing the Assassin and repelling the ADVENT forces that tried to destroy the Avenger a second time, it seems the Elders are trying to bolster their forces as much as possible. We faced off against the Berserker Queen, though it wasn’t much of an obstacle - in fact, today it fell.

We were fortunate enough to be able to covertly deploy fairly close to the objective. Two patrols immediately crossed our paths, though none of them stood any chance. The Codex and one of the Troopers went down like they were nothing, and I played a large role in the destruction of the Spectre. My attack didn’t kill the machine, but Shas’la was there to back me up. All that remained was the other Bio-Trooper, but the moment his sustaining shield dissipated, his life was over, courtesy of Obsquros. As I moved forth to extract some Focus energy with which to empower myself, I revealed the position of another ADVENT squad, but in doing so revealed our position to them as well. Beast gunned down the leader of the group, whilst Odd directed me to take shelter behind cover. It was an action I didn’t entirely believe in taking, but I did so reluctantly. Magnusson charged out towards my position, slicing apart one of the Troopers. Beast and Collux worked together to eviscerate the Archon, sending it plummeting from the air in pieces. Seeing my opening, I rejoined the fray, plunging both of my blades into the Purifier’s armour. It roared in pain, a pain that I eagerly drank in, empowering my shard gauntlets with a burst of Focus Energy. Feeling reinvigorated, I followed up with a second strike against the Purifier, killing it. It’s death drew the attention of the ADVENT Sniper, who attempted to open fire on me, though I was able to hastily generate a shield to ward off the attack. In turn, I responded with an attack of my own, charging the Sniper head-on and hitting him with such force that the sheer pain and surprise he felt disoriented him. Magnusson contributed his efforts, finishing off my work and turning the Sniper into a wound-ridden corpse. 

We moved forwards to the objective - a large psionic matrix, but it wasn’t the only major psionic presence I felt. Something else was here, and given my prior experience with the Viper King, I could only assume it was another of his kind, given the similar, yet not identical resonance. My theory was proven correct, as once we began to step closer to the objective, the Berserker Queen made herself known. She was already wounded, given the last encounter XCOM had with her. In preparation for the fight ahead, I weaved my psionic energies into a Ghost, sending it forwards to scout. Right at the same time, ADVENT deployed a squad of reinforcements, though they were all destroyed the moment they set foot on the ground, bar an ADVENT Duelist. He was my prime target, and I tore his body apart with a slash from my blades - not killing it, but striking it so hard that it’s fear was converted into raw focus energy. The Berserker Queen moved forwards, lured out by my Ghost, lured into our trap. Shas’la bombarded the Queen with a grenade, shattering both it and the ground beneath it. Collux finished off the Duelist, to which I gave him my thanks - and all that was left between us and victory was the Queen and her subject. The car Collux was using as cover erupted in a blast of flame, exploding against him, propelling my anger further. My Ghost destroyed one of the relay nodes to buy us some time, right as the Berserker Queen attempted to attack us, but Beast managed to stun the creature in the knick of time, giving us an opening to kill it. Magnusson took his opportunity, eviscerating the Queen with a volley of blasts. The Queen tried to escape, but Shas’la froze it, and with no escape, the Queen was killed, struck down by Beast - who then went on to finish off the last remaining Muton. Now that there was no opposition, our mission was an easy one, and after we planted the X4 on the transmitter, we left with the Queen’s corpse in tow.

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Firebrand's personal log - January 11th 2036 (Entry #49)

I mean ... Some thirty Chryssalids in the cargo hold was a problem. But that big freaking Berserker royalty ... that took a lot of space and it smelled too. Did Dr. Vahlen cross it over with a skunk too? I suppose it's possible. I'd really appreciate not to be altered with any other kind of genes though, thank you, Doctor. Unless it's an Archon ... Maybe. I do like flying, you know.

Anyway, there were injuries involved. And a couple of tactical hiccups from the Commander. But the mission was successful, nonetheless. We are moving along fine, but there's still a lot of work to be done. I hope we can reach the end of the road, so we can kick those blasted Elders back to their home planet or dimension or wherever the hell they came from.

Thankfully, the Ranger was nice and tidy and got a little maintenance too well before this mission alarm start ringing. Always nice to have a few days of rest. Now it's back to work. Mission somewhere in Egypt, I think. ADVENT VIP to neutralize. Let's get him. Or her. It. Whatever.

Firebrand out.

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War recount 47

The team went out to destroy a psionic relay and besides a few burns and scratches everyone came back in one piece. The main interest of this mission was the Berserker Queen who showed up. The Commander didn't realize that we've fought the Queen before and was very confused on why the beast was hurt. Speaking of beasts, Beast did quite a bit this mission, he almost single handedly took out a Archon, he took quite a bit of damage and still kept fighting through, and in the end he stopped the Berserker Queen from running long enough for damage to be done to it. The Warlock has become quite the problem recently and Odd has more or less declared it enemy number one. Spades is going on her fist mission since she came on, she's a decent soldier, I've seen her down at the bar and we've talked a little, mainly about how she wants to get some mission time but there have been other things. Next mission is a Council mission hope it goes well.  
Signing out  
Jebediah Primm

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Julian’s log  
XCOM database  
January 1st  
log 8  
post mission

And that was all that was written. I know that isn’t the normal way to start a log, but by whatever nondescript gods the fleshlings on this ship worship this mission was an absolute success. I suppose it is like an old saying I heard the one called Damon say: it’s always darkest before the morning’s light. But this is an official log, forgive the sentimentality. I remember a time when this war seemed stacked against the forces of XCOM, who at the time I deemed my slavers. But now? it appears as though the war may be changing as much as my attitude hopefully both for the better. No casualties, a successful mission, and the death of one of the elders favorite playthings in the form of the queen of those beefed up cattle the fleshlings call berserkers. Though I don't know what it is that humans find intimidating about size but perhaps its merely because of their weak frames it so often becomes a factor. Those three variables add up to what I deem to be a victory. But since many of the other squad members will be commenting on the mission and its details for the log. I feel I must share a few personal thoughts. Things have changed on board this ship since the assassin’s death. People are smiling more, laughing more, feeling more, and for the first time in my life; I believe I may finally feel what is known as happiness or I may start to. No longer do I feel bound to this body as another prison, and I am allowed to wander on board this ship as I please. I have even found fellowship among several of the flesh. Damon, an engineer soldier hybrid is one of the few who can stand up to a being as superior as myself. Whether in thoughts or at chess, the templar is always interesting and the sniper Collux is always up for a round of target practice, not to mention killing aliens is also entertaining. What's more it seems this fellowship I found has spread to the crew. Gone are the looks of hatred and fear, now replaced with frenzied cries to the command deck to return me to the field of battle where my glory may shine among others. I do believe this is happiness. the evidence itself is hanging around my neck as despite the defacement of my body at the time, i still don't have the heart to do away with the elirium star i was gifted with for my short stint as a "christmas tree". Don't get me wrong, I shall still be the thorn in the side of Advent and a few of the weaker minded members of the crew, but I'm not a child anymore. I don't want to burn the house down just to prove a point. Perhaps, when this is all over, there may be some hope for this. **clears throat** Now that that short burst of insanity is done with. I must prepare, surely the commander shall be calling for the skill of a being such as I soon enough.

Longer logs when there is more than peace to report.

Julian out

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DISPLAY LOG (ROV-R)  
<1245:33 05.01.2036> begin PML-051  
<1245:34 05.01.2036> Initializing post-mission scan…  
<1245:38 05.01.2036> # Soldiers = 6/6  
Medical Alert: Perforative trauma (gunshot), Shrapnel  
MAJ. DOHMNALL ‘BEAST’ WODEN  
MAJ. COLLUX  
COL. STEPHAN ‘TAU’ SHAS’LA

PLEASE REPORT TO THE INFIRMARY IMMEDIATELY  
Inventory update: [ERROR] !FLAGGED Berserker Queen corpse  
> Maximum load dimensions exceeded

Good afternoon User RICHARD TYGAN  
<1252:07 05.01.2036> Announcement: Requesting assistance.wav  
Good afternoon User SQ. DOUGLAS ‘POET’ DRAGON and User SQ. LIAM ‘HARBINGER’ O’NEIL  
<1311:34 05.01.2036> User permissions updated.  
Access to the CARGO BAY and all included inventory management infrastructure and tools is granted to DOUGLAS ‘POET’ DRAGON and SQ. LIAM ‘HARBINGER’ O’NEIL for 23 hours, 59 minutes and 59 seconds.  
<1319:48 05.01.2036> SQ. LIAM ‘HARBINGER’ O’NEIL, please be reminded that User RICHARD TYGAN requires the !FLAGGED Berserker Queen corpse intact and unburnt for autopsy.  
<1320:00 05.01.2036> Use of the heat cutter setting of the Advent Flamethrower to assist armor removal from the !FLAGGED Berserker Queen corpse is acceptable.  
<1324:22 05.01.2036> SQ. DOUGLAS ‘POET’ DRAGON, please observe SAFE MANUAL HANDLING TECHNIQUE to minimize risk of injury.  
Do not attempt to lift by bending forward. Bend your hips and knees to squat down to your load, keep it close to your body, and straighten your legs to lift.  
Never lift a heavy object above shoulder level.  
Avoid turning or twisting your body while lifting or holding a heavy object.  
Cranes and pulleys are also available for your use.  
<1355:30 05.01.2036> SQ. LIAM ‘HARBINGER’ O’NEIL and SQ. DOUGLAS ‘POET’ DRAGON, please ensure that all loads, including passengers, are safely secured to the XM-671 ENGINE-DRIVEN TRANSFER TROLLEY before turning on the ignition.  
<1356:18 05.01.2036> SQ. LIAM ‘HARBINGER’ O’NEIL, use of Advent Flamethrower fuel in the XM-671 ENGINE-DRIVEN TRANSFER TROLLEY is at your own risk and may void the manufacturer’s warranty.  
<1359:20 05.01.2036> WARNING: PERSONNEL ARE TO REMOVE ALL FLAMMABLE MATERIALS AND VACATE THE SHADOW CHAMBER  
RESISTANCE COMMS  
TRAINING CENTRE  
IMMEDIATELY.

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Derek Walters. Audio Log Entry 21: Walters: Dun, dun, dun, another one bites the dust, dun, dun, dun, another one bites the dust, another one gone, another one gone, another one bites the- **Door opens. Spades stares in bewilderment** Spades: What the hell is this??? Walters: Oh, uhh, nothing, nothing at all. Spades: Why are you singing? Walters: I'm bored! Julian: Please tell him to stop. He's been singing that song since we killed the Assassin, and it's only become more frequent since our encounter with the Berserker Queen! Walters: Shut up Julian. I'll never forgive you for what you did! Spades: **Awkwardly stares at Walters, then the speaker from which Julian’s voice emnated, then back to Walters** So, what are you doing? Walters: Oh, just looking over the blueprints for the Assassins shotgun. Specifically the power cells. Spades: And all this time I thought you were a biologist. Walters: Marine biologist. Spades: What? Walters: Marine biologist. Used to work in the Coast Guard. I've actually got a relatively wide variety of skills. Though I must admit, tech isn't my forte. No idea why Tygan keeps assigning me to work on research for these projects. Spades: Me neither. I just wanted to check out the new shotgun. Walters: Gonna need to wait. It's being taken apart. Trying to see how it works. Spades: Alright then. I'll see you later then. **She slowly backs out the door as terrible singing from Walters and tortured complaining from Julian continues** End Log

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Damon Nights’ Audio Log: January 11th, 2036  
Latest mission to happen was the Guerilla Ops, nothing too special in itself, but there was one major point of interest, but don’t worry, I won’t spoil it for you. A few Aliens were spotted before anyone actually did anything, a Codex and its “sibling,” a Spectre, I say that like it means something, but they don’t seem to be that big of a threat. I don’t feel like I need to say this anymore, seeing as all these soldiers are just so damn good, but they killed off the Aliens, and a few Advent, with ease. After the exchange, Kohlla was sent ahead to scout, but she was spotted by four Advent soldiers and an Archon. This encounter didn’t go as smoothly, with ‘Beast’ getting hit by one of the Archon’s “pinyons,” but the rest were taken out without much difficulty. While making their way to the transmitter itself, the squad came across a beacon for an Advent reinforcement drop-ship. Here’s where we get to the surprise I mentioned! So it turns out the Berserker Queen was here, and she was waiting for the squad right next to the transmitter. Guess she wanted revenge for getting injured last time, I believe that was the same mission that Julian was destroyed. The dropship finally arrived, but one of the soldiers on it was a Purifier, which means when he was killed, he exploded, but luckily, his explosion damaged one of his allies. I’m afraid Collux was injured by a car that exploded, but after a few days in the infirmary, he’ll be fine. Luckily, the damned thing was finished off, which means, if I’m not mistaken, that there is only one of Vahlen’s monstrosities left, the augmented Archon. The X4 charges were placed, and everyone was evaced at the very least alive, if not safely.  
Several good things came from that, the first was our new soldier, a Specialist, he seems dedicated, which is good. The second thing was, according to Tygan, that the Berserker Queen’s hide could be used to make some sort of armor, increasing a soldier’s physical strength while worn. After the mission, we kept up the search for intel, to be honest, I can’t remember where this stuff is coming from, and I doubt it was another informant, but who knows. During the scan, the research on bettering pistols was completed, allowing Tygan to begin research on the Assassin’s weapons. Kept the search up for a few more days, and finally found what we were looking for, which turned out to be some weird looking crystals growing on plants, dunno what the significance of that is. We went back to making contact with Asia, before the Council sent us another of their reports. They seemed pleased, and they damn well better be, our soldiers went through hell this past, whatever period of time it has been since the last message. We had access to the supply drop, but the Commander decided to keep making contact with Asia.  
While we were searching for the resistance base, the Council sent out a mission request to be completed as soon as possible. They wanted us to take out, someone, they didn’t really say who. The Shadow Chamber revealed that there were some pretty nasty sounding Aliens out there, which has me kind of worried. A Squaddie was sent on the mission, I mean, I hope they survive, but their chances are looking kind of bad. I wish everyone luck, but I don’t see this going well.

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	53. Ep 52 - Operation Swamp Saga

**Ep 52-----Operation Swamp Saga ------------------------------------------------------**

Firebrand's personal log - January 17th 2036 (Entry #50)

This was a strange mission. First of all, we had help on the ground. But the individual in question wasn't waiting for the team at the drop-off zone, but way back, too close to the enemy units. Way too close. Secondly, ADVENT got a new type of Sectopod. Much more reactive, quicker to move and shoot. We almost got a casualty because of it. But the team was at the top of their game and took it down quite efficiently.

And the last strange moment, it was at the end. Our Resistance help was carrying the ADVENT VIP ... and he just dropped the body as he was being hauled back up in the Ranger. I mean ... The man could've sworn he had the VIP. But not on board. Commander didn't seem to notice though. I don't know what happened there really. I had more maintenance to perform, so hopefully the team briefing had sorted things out.

More Resistance contacts ... and ... (alarm blaring) What's going on?

(minute of inactivity)

Shit! Our covert team got ambushed, somewhere in Siberia. Ok ... I know what that means. I already knew it before Central even said it. Time to roll and bring the team home.

Firebrand out.

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Damon Nights’ Audio Log: January 17th, 2036  
Well, shit hit the fan on the Council mission, around a week ago. Guess what the first thing to be encountered was? If you said: “Sectopod Prime,” and then flipped me off, along with everyone else in XCOM, you would be right. Not only was that one of the first things to be spotted, but when Tau was sent out to scout, he found several Aliens, and a new Advent Mec. I mean, there was some good news, the squad was met by someone who showed an interest in joining XCOM. Well, okay, I overhyped the Alien group, they actually died really fast. Turns out the Sectopod also had some backup, which seems like overkill. I don’t know if it was luck, or something else, but they pulled through! The squad was actually able to kill off the Sectopod Prime, and its support. Turns out the V.I.P. was hiding inside the building that the Sectopod was on top of. The squad moved in to secure him, but they were halted by a few Advent soldiers and a Bio Mec. The Skulljack was successfully tested on one of the Advent soldiers, gaining us some valuable intel. The V.I.P. was captured without much trouble after the Advent soldiers were killed. Except for the part where some reinforcements for Advent dropped in. Several Overwatch shots were fired off at the Advent soldiers, killing them off. And with that, the Advent V.I.P. was safely kidnapped.  
When everyone returned, we were finally able to finish making contact with Eastern Asia. After that we started construction on a relay tower in New Indonesia. During this construction time, Tygan’s research on the Assassin’s weaponry finished. Even though I don’t think we have any Rookies that can be trained up, the Commander decided we needed to start research into Psionics.  
Not too much happened after that, we kept up construction, until we heard from the Covert Operatives. They were ambushed while returning from their mission. There’s only two of them there, so a straight run to the evac point and some good luck will do them well.

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DISPLAY LOG (ROV-R)  
<1135:08 11.01.2036> begin PML-052  
<1135:09 11.01.2036> Applying post-combat analysis…  
<1135:13 11.01.2036> Medical alert: Penetrative trauma (gunshot), Shrapnel  
COL. STEPHAN ‘TAU’ SHAS’LA  
CPL. ÍRIS ‘SPADES’ ÁRNADÓTTIR

PLEASE REPORT TO THE INFIRMARY IMMEDIATELY

Good morning, Central Officer JOHN BRADFORD

<1135:17 11.01.2036> ADUT YOKUNYA is granted indefinite GUEST status on the Avenger pending transfer to local Resistance at earliest convenience.

<1140:46 11.01.2036> Play: What Goes Around…Comes Around – Justin Timberlake  
<1141:10 11.01.2036> Stop: What Goes Around…Comes Around – Justin Timberlake

Good morning, User COL. STEPHAN ‘TAU’ SHAS’LA

<1141:11 11.01.2036> Play: Message from Engineering.wav  
“COL. STEPHAN ‘TAU’ SHAS’LA, the Engineering team extends its sincere apologies for the failure of the Shadow Chamber to detect the Sectopod Prime encountered during the last mission. The unit appears to possess stealth capabilities that warrant further study. We wish you a speedy recovery and commend you on your exceptional combat skills in…”

<1141:20 11.01.2036> Stop: Message from Engineering.wav  
<1141:31 11.01.2036> COL. STEPHAN ‘TAU’ SHAS’LA, would you like to confirm your Song Dedication to [ALL ENGINEERS]? Y/N_  
<1141:33 11.01.2036> Y

Good morning, Administrator LILY SHEN  
<1150:52 11.01.2036> Play: Cry Me a River – Justin Timberlake

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Derek Walters. Audio Log Entry: 22. More primes, more problems. Speaking of problems, we got an Advent official after the last mission. We threatened her, saying we would find a way to make her talk, and boy did she talk! For almost three hours straight she kept screaming about how Advent would come back for her, and that we would all be hanged for our crimes against the Elders. I could hear her from my lab, working on the Psionics project. It was a terrible distraction. So I banged on the wall a few times and told her to shut up. When she didn't, I personally walked up to her cell and said that if she interrupted my research again, I'd open the airlock in the back of her cell. We were 40,000 feet in the air. She said I was bluffing. "You wouldn't do that! You would be punished!" I quoted 'Inglorious Basterds': "Nah, more like chewed out. I've been chewed out before." "I doubt that." "Suit yourself", I responded, before walking off to resume my work. When her screaming resumed, I walked over to the Warden's console and opened the airlock. The screaming intensified, then died down. I walked back to the Lab to resume my work. End Log

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War recount 48

This mission was to hunt and capture a Advent VIP. For the most part the mission went well besides from a few injuries and miscommunications. Gadget and Spades both got this as their first mission and both were partying pretty hard at the bar for that reason a few nights ago. There were two things that can be considered the most terrifying parts of what happened, those being the Sectopod Prime that showed up even though the Shadow chamber said nothing about it or the newly found Church of Timberlake/NSYNC that even the bill board of was able to scare the Commander. Surprisingly both of those things happened this mission and I'd say that the new church is much more terrifying considering that Tau was able to more or less take on the Prime and kill it with healing from Gadget. Before I forget, we did get a resistance soldier from the Reapers and she didn't help out a lot but she did carry out the VIP who Bradford thought the team left behind. After hanging around for a whole he went to one of the resistance shanty camps we watch over and will protect the citizens there. In other news the Assassin's weapons are finally ready for use after the brainiacs in the lab checked them out. Actual research into psionics is being done meaning we could have someone who can mind control our enemies rather than dice them to bits like our current psionic users. Last thing I heard recently was that the Hunter failed to sabotage us but oh holy hell the covert op was ambushed I gotta go.  
Signing out  
Jebediah Primm


	54. Ep 53 - Ambush (Covert Op)

**Ep 53-----Ambush (Covert Op)------------------------------------------------------------**  
\- Recording Starting –

Hunter Peterson's log #7

So quite a bit has happened recently. Christmas rolled around, and we had a feast of sorts on the Avenger. The Commander was there, speech in all, and gave out gifts for stand out soldiers. Nice little thing. Never been too much of a fan of social gatherings, but it does make for good people watching. With the UFO hunting us down, people were a little on edge, so it was nice to wind down. Kebab and I had some time to talk about the ongoing war, soldiers we lost, and our past as well. Apparently, we have a bit in common.

A few days later, the Commander hustled Vintermorgon and me out on a Covert op. Didn't even have time to record a log. Big important mission, he says. Sent us out hunting the Warlock. We got his coordinates but got ambushed inside an abandoned city. Not a new sight to me. Travelling with the Reapers as long as I did, I'm familiar with the setting. The eeriness, the Advent purifiers, and the Lost. Doesn't help much though. Especially when Advent decides that they want Andromedons to ambush us there, even if they were a little dim-witted. We didn't get very good vision as we were running, but I'm pretty sure they knocked themselves off a balcony trying to kill a single Lost; destroying any chance they had at following us. We made good on our escape though. Not without a few burns, but when has that ever stopped us?

I'm a bit surprised how the whole thing turned out, honestly. I thought I'd have a bit more issues trusting Chill than I did. Usually, I always get that feeling when working with Skirmishers. You know the one. The knife in the back one. But not here. Ever since Operation Empty Blade, I've come to trust these guys a lot more. Even though she did hop aboard the Skyranger before me. But the mission comes first, I get that. No biggie. She was in a position to get the data back to the Avenger, I wasn't. We both made it out of there in one piece anyway.

Back on the Avenger, I was greeted by something I did not expect. Kebab running up to the platform to welcome me back. Almost seemed like he was going to go for a hug, then stopping when he realized I was covered in acid. I played it cool, though. I think. I don't actually know, I'm never good in those situations. I can keep a calm head in a fight, but whenever someone shows me attention in any way, I just look like a fish out of water. Kebab is a good guy though. He's been visiting me in the infirmary, and I appreciate the company. I've been in here far too many times, and far too long with only the doctors to keep me company, so it's a welcome change.

The Commander got the data he wanted, then immediately went back to work. A quick pat on the back (metaphorically) and he was already planning the assault on the Warlock. Sending the best he can out. The sooner we remove another Chosen from the field, the better. And hopefully without loses. One step closer to ending this.

\- Recording Ending -

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Firebrand's personal log - January 19th 2036 (Entry #51)

Who the heck brought the damn Andromedons in a city filled with Zombies? That mission could've gone so very wrong if I wasn't closer to the team. That acid ... Thank goodness for the emergency medkits in the cargo hold. Chill and Vagabond will be in the Infirmary for a while, but they will be fine. And, more importantly, final piece of the puzzle against the Loudmouth has been uncovered. A way to break into his sanctuary.

Which is where I am taking the squad next. Hoping that things go as planned. That guy is a major bastard. We need to take him out ... Now.

Let's go, Menace 1-5.

Firebrand out.

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17 January 2036  
Stepan ‘Kebab’ Evtushenko’s log

When the Skyranger landed, I dropped everything and ran to the platform. Hunter always seems to come back injured and I dread the day that he does not come back at all. We’ve lost two Rangers already and yeah…okay…I’ve got feelings for Vags ever since our chat at Christmas dinner. Chill wasn’t hurt as bad…she’s been engineered as a fighter, but I want her to see the end of this war too dammit!  
Thankfully the Andromedans that ambushed them were not exactly Advent’s best. Or their brightest. The sigh of relief on the bridge when one of them knocked the other off the balcony could be heard from the barracks. Now here I am with an armful of stuff from Vag’s bunk to take to the Infirmary. Never thought I’d live long enough to stop acting like each day was my last; but with the coordinates supplied by Chill and Vags of the Warlock’s hideout and the strength of the team Commander is sending out, I have hope for the future. Might as well practice this awkward ‘romance’ thing if I want to see Hunter in mine.

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XCOM database  
Julians logs  
log 9

To any who read these logs, I offer an "apology" for my absence. Due to the recent lack of deployment i was asked to spend the majority of yesterday working with engineering to test weapons, armor, and other items that normally would be too dangerous for any normal human. Though I question whether that speaks to my perfection or if those I’m working to trust now see me as expendable. I saw Damon again the other day. He seems to be the one man I can fully speak to and we discuss much of what we know about our world. He of the old one. I tell him of what I learned while trapped within the shell of a factory. Our conversations, while alleviating the boredom are not much to speak of and I hope to be deployed soon; maybe even on my new friends same squad. In other news, I seem to be of use in Engineering. The idea of having an AI in the room does disturb some of them, but when I can make calculations with weight of motive behind them in the same manner humans do apparently I suddenly became an asset. I even got to work on that annoyance known as a "sectopod prime" with Damon, not that I know how you can call a machine a prime seeing as all examples of this word were biologically made rather than machine. It seems in this case what allowed this machine to perform its "prime action" were a set of several leg servos and its own line of code, these pieces in its legs combined with the code executed the legs to execute movement commands in response to the information given by the main motherboard, moving it away from a threat and drawing from a seperate power supply to perform said action. It’s blasters were also tinkered with, I must talk to the commander about a possible cannon upgrade. In regards to today’s mission, I would describe it as "tense". The skirmisher and the one called Vagabond both did their best, but their flesh held them back the same as my metal would when they met the age old enemy of XCOM. acid. Luckily despite major injuries, the two were able to escape without perishing. So I would call it a success. **Alarms blare** Ahhh. it seems the time has come. another one of the elders fleshling mockeries has been tracked back to its hovel. I can only pray that I am sent to see the fall of this one with my own optics. **Moment of silence** It appears once more I shall be left as a mere sentry. A turret's job, but I shall do it well. My time will come. The Elders’ servants will burn and crush under my feet. My time will come.

Julian out.  
Show less

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Damon Nights’ Audio Log: January 19th, 2035  
A Covert Op was ambushed about, two days back. I’m counting on this one being as short as the last one, meaning I can keep the mission review short. So, not much to begin with, Natalya and ‘Vagabond’ sprinted off towards a building to get away from the Advent dropship. Sadly, for the two of them, the beacon was misplaced, and instead of running away from the Advent troops, they went straight towards them. The Advent soldiers didn’t really stand a chance, so I guess the misplaced beacon wasn’t that big of a deal. Unless, maybe Advent has been doing that on purpose to throw our troops off and lure them into a trap. A few Lost were encountered while the “squad” was running towards the evac point, but they were killed pretty quickly. An Andromedan was also spotted, but not engaged, two people could hardly be expected to take one of those things down. Well, shit, turns out there was a second Andromedan walking directly towards the two sorry saps, and this one they did engage. What few Lost were remaining went after our troops in the field, as well as the Andromedan. While escaping from the Lost into a nearby building, ‘Vagabond’ had the misfortune of alerting the other Andromedan to his position, which is bad news for everybody. The closest Andromedan ignored the Lost that was following him, and chased after Natalya and ‘Vagabond,’ where it proceeded to launch a “ball” of something at them, which exploded into a puddle of acid. The other one followed shortly thereafter. Natalya was able to escape before anything too terrible could happen to her, again, but she left ‘Vagabond’ behind. Though it wasn’t too much longer before ‘Vagabond’ was able to follow.  
Nothing really happened during the down time between missions. When Natalya and ‘Vagabond’ came back, they were sent straight to the Infirmary, after they reported the entrance to the Warlock’s stronghold, of course. The Commander reviewed the options for the next Covert Op, but decided against doing anything at the time. He also ordered the construction of a few Mind Shields. I take that back, he actually sent out Rodats and Liam to go recruit a new Reaper to XCOM. Michelle was assigned to construct a Power Relay, taking up one of the last two rooms. The Commander says he wants to construct a Psi Lab, for training Psi Operatives, but the only problem with that is we don’t have any Rookies. It also means we won’t be able to build a Defense Matrix, which I feel would be a greater help to us, especially if the Avenger gets attacked again. We spent a few more days building the relay tower, gaining us the ability to instantly make contact with new locations, with the help of the Oceania region.  
After that, the Commander ordered an assault on the Chosen Warlock’s stronghold. It should be much easier with those aforementioned Mind Shields. I hope the squad comes back alive, seeing as the last time we did something like this everyone barely managed to return. I wish them all luck, but the time will come telling whether they needed it or not.

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Derek Walters. Audio Log Entry 23: Bradford wasn't happy after my little... incident... with the prisoner. Apparently, when she saw me walking to the Warden's terminal, she put two and two together, and tied her bedsheets together around her cell bars. Janitor found her about 15 minutes later. She was strangely compliant after that. Still jumps a little whenever I walk by. Bradford extended my dish duty punishment from when I sold that plasma rifle to pay for our little Christmas feast. Real unfortunate, though. Now that I'm on dish duty, I can't get anything for the next Stronghold assault. Walters out. End Log

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War recount 49

This could have gone pretty bad all things considered. A little context to what I'm going on about, Vintermorgon and Vagabond were ambushed in a covert op to finally narrow down where the Warlock is. The worst thing to happen was when a Andromedon launched a glob of acid at the two of them making escape more of a question than a reality when it happened. The two Andromedons chasing the team only gave some room to escape when one of them destroyed a fire escape with a missed punch on a Lost. Eventually Vintermorgon could leave but Vagabond wasn't fast enough to keep pace and had to hide in a corner before rushing out. When both of them came back with the coordinates we needed, the final preparations before the attack began. They were simple things like finishing a radio relay (which has made my job ever so easier), making a bunch of mind shields, and having me set up a meet between Rodats and the Reapers to get a new one. Khane ever the big mouth was ever so interested in who we were taking and truly believed I of all people knew who was coming. I was able to humble him for a second by bringing up how revenge was being gained against the Warlock soon but even that didn't last long. The team is currently as we speak moving out to attack the Warlock stronghold and good luck to them all. In other news I talked with Pox a little today, I had no real reason, I just was bored and he was the only one still on duty. Though him being him he didn't understand the idea of a social call and actively tried to weasel out of it and got mad with me quite a bit when I kept prodding him about personal details. Other than that there has been nothing going on recently except this dream I've been having. It's not a nightmare, it doesn't scare me, just intrigues me. It starts out in my office, everything's quiet, then I hear Pharaoh come over the radio, she doesn't sound as grouchy as she normally does and I don't feel an intense feeling of annoyance when she pops in as I normally do when she checks if she's needed. Then I can't talk and I feel awkward like I'm a kid again, but then there is explosions over the other end of the radio and she dies. The room then fills with bottles of booze that tip over and start pouring out but never becoming empty. As the room fills I don't fight the rising waters I just accept it and wallow in it. I might need to see a shrink, I don't know what the dream means but it's been happening a lot.  
Signing out  
Jebediah Primm


	55. Ep 54 - Operation Driving Wail (Warlock's Stronghold)

**Ep 54-----Operation Driving Wail-(Warlock Stronghold)----------------------------**  
Log 26: Zoey “Kohlla” Durand  
19/01/2036  
\--- Post-Mission  
First the Assassin, then the Berserker Queen, and now the Warlock. We’ve worked hard to get here, and have fought off enemy after enemy. Challenge after challenge. Victory after victory. We’re winning, and we’ve earned it. We’ve lost so many people, but today nobody died, nobody was even hurt.

As the charges blew open the way into the Warlock’s lair, we rappelled down into the AO. Almost immediately we met the enemy, a squad of Archons, but held them at bay. Shas’la led the way with an explosive, and Beast and Blazkivitz followed up with a storm of shots. This left my targets open to attack, and I took my chance eagerly, slicing through the Archon closest to me and ravaging the rest with a surge of psionic energy, allowing me to drink in the pain of each of them. A hail of shots accompanied my assault, and in mere moments only one Archon remained before fleeing. One of the corpses still radiated a small modicum of psionic energy, and so I absorbed it for use as focus energy. We found the Archon, hiding in the shadows, and quickly gunned it down. A turret emerged from the floor and opened fire on Beast, but he managed to evade and return fire, tearing it apart. Another turret revealed itself, but much like the turret before it, it was scrap in seconds.

We moved forward, and found a squad of ADVENT Troopers cowering in the darkness - a darkness that was lit up by a storm of shots, which I contributed to. Our shots ripped our enemy apart, leaving only one trooper standing - a trooper that I ran my blades through, drinking in its pain and skewering it so painfully that he collapsed to the ground, unable to move. I struck it with another attack, and then another after that, with the aid of my peers. The Trooper’s drawn out suffering granted me a burst of focus energy, empowering me for the fight to come, a fight that we faced only moments later.

The Ascension Chamber stood before us, and even though I have seen it once before, the majesty of it’s design still leaves me awestruck. Within the Chamber’s walls was another contingent of ADVENT Troopers, with a Priest amongst their number. Whilst I was eager to strike it down, the Commander directed my rage upon the other Trooper, and I struck it down with little mercy. The Trooper’s death bore the fruit of another rush of Focus Energy, which I consumed once again to further empower myself. The bright purple glow of teleportation energy engulfed us, and we were sent forth into the fray.

The Warlock’s chamber was submerged beneath the oceans, much like the Assassin’s had been. We met a duo of ADVENT Troopers whom were in our path, though disposing them was a matter of little difficulty. My blades tore through one of them, as I hit with slash after slash, and despite the momentary requiem of a stasis field, the Trooper met its end. The other Trooper was also dispatched by me, though it met its end from a hail of bullets delivered from my auto-pistol rather than my blades.

Not long after, the Warlock teleported into the fight, spouting his usual gospel about his glory, though his overconfidence was his downfall. We hammered him with shot after shot, and I struck the Chosen with a burst of energy that tore through his body, marking him for the rest of my allies. He summoned a squad of priests to his aid, as well as a legion of his spectral soldiers. Both of the Priests fell prey to me, with the assistance of both Blazkivitz and Magnusson. I ripped apart both of the Priests, and tasted their pain, which almost made up for the lust for revenge I still have against their kind due to their past transgressions. Their deaths almost felt even better than tearing apart any other of the Elder’s slaves, but hitting anyone of the Chosen far outclassed their suffering. Beast moved to my position, letting off a volley of shots into more of the Warlock’s minions, disincorporating their spectral forms. Much like his slaves, the Warlock fell moments later, and retreated into his “sarcophagus” to heal, his body eviscerated. His sarcophagus wasn’t safe however, as the Warlock soon found out, as we began to rip it apart with an onslaught of rounds. Even whilst he summoned his minions into the fray, the Warlock still wasn’t safe, and in seconds the sarcophagus was little more than psionically charged ruins. 

The Warlock was spat back out into the battlefield, weakened and wounded, but furious. I struck the ADVENT MEC that the Warlock had summoned into the fray, turning it to scrap with the aid of Celly and Magnusson. Now it was just us, and the Warlock, and all of knew who was going to emerge the victor. In his time of need, the Elders abandoned him, and now he was ours to destroy. I lashed out of a him with a surge of psionic energy, knocking him into the open and exposing him to the attacks of my teammates. The first to take advantage of the opportunity was Blazkivitz, who hit the Warlock with such power that he crippled the Chosen instantly. Magnusson followed suit, and finished the Warlock off, slashing through his body and wounding him beyond what the sarcophagus could even repair. The Warlock’s body, beaten and damaged, turned to stone before our eyes - his punishment from the Elders. We hauled the statue of our foe back onto the Skyranger, and returned home.

Once again, our victory was still setting in as we flew back, but this time we were quicker to realize we had won. It seems like things are finally turning around. Diego, I wish you were still here, to be able to join us in our victory, I know you deserved to be. But still, I will always, and gladly fight your memory, until all of the aliens are dead, the Elders included. 

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Journal Entry 28#   
Name: Will 'Billy-Terror' Blazkivitz   
Date: 19th January 2036   
Operation: Driving Wail

Had to happen at some point, we killed the purple bitch so it was time for one of her brothers to be put down like the Elder's lap dogs they were. Working with my main girl as well as Beast, Eternal, Tau our newest member Gadget. Since we've been stomping people have been coming out of the woodwork to join us, well just because you got some skills doesn't mean your all hot shit. We were here first dammit, we'll see if this guy proves to be any good. We're coming for you Warlock and we got fancy mind protection so all I can say is suck it!

We drop down making ourselves known as The Warlock prattles on about zealous shit, as usual, couldn't two shits as Beast runs up to a door and opens it to find four Archons, three Sentinels and a Valkyrie leader. Upon seeing them set their guns at us like a firing line, Beast wisely closes the door on these fuckers allowing us to spread out and keep sights trained on that door as we set our own little firing line. Well, they decide to wait us out but after telling the team to stay out of the way I take aim with my plasma lance at the door signalling Beast open the door. He finds the Valkyrie on his face but keeps his calm as the real party was starting.

Tau opens up with a plasma bomb hitting all four but one Sentinel tries his luck to blast him, I give my squad mate covering fire making the Alien freak miss his shot. Beast softens up the other two Sentinels and the Valkyrie as my partner charges the one I shot out seriously wounding him as well as the other two Sentinels with her energy wave. Gadget decides to chip in by putting down the crippled Sentinel in front of my partner, Eternal then blasts away another Sentinel before nearly killing the Valkyrie allowing Tau to gun her down for good. The Last Sentinel makes a break for it but I give the coward a shot tracking it through a wall and my focused plasma round hits true. The team goes on a hunt but Beast was the one to find him and put the last Archon down, that all aside we regroup and push on.

Beast scouts out a room immediately taking fire from some defences The Warlock left us, a couple turrets though Beast gets into a spot where one can't see him before he just obliterates the one that could see him. Afterwards, he draws out the fire of the second turret making it waste shots before he and Tau work together to destroy it. Minor threat down, time to press on. We set up a slow approaching overwatch trap and it pays off as a patrol comes our way. An ADVENT Bio Trooper gets gunned down by Eternal, Kohlla and Gadget while I put a round into an ADVENT Purifier. Though we spy a Bio Heavy Rocket Trooper with a Shieldbearer as well. 

I try my luck taking a shot at the Purifier who dodges my shot but I do destroy half his cover allowing Eternal takes a shot from half the room away with a shotgun and puts down the freak. Damn the Assassin's weapon was a fine piece of kit put in the hands of someone who could actually hit things. Beast then uses his grappling hook to pull the Rocket Trooper to him, slash him, burn him before finally gunning him down. The rest of us wait for the Shieldbearer who decides to make himself known even shooting at us but misses, my partner charges in with a reply slashing at him and stunning him with her blade. 

The rest of the team pushes up since the Commander knew we didn't see any more threats, I even comply with the team and to the Commander “Alright let's get this moving. What's next fun boy?” Kohlla meanwhile, was busy slashing at the downed Shieldbearer who wakes up shielding himself as best he could from my partner's swords. Gadget runs in breaking the shield with his plasma rifle and I join in by pointing my plasma pistol right at the freak, I get his attention by saying “Tag your it!” before putting a shot into him allowing my main girl to finish him off. With that down we regroup as per usual and pick a direction, we stack up on a dock ready for the next fight.

Tau does the honours and reveals us to an ADVENT Priest as well as an ADVENT Medic. One hell of a major step down as guards as we found the teleporter, I'll take this over Chrysalids any day. Anyway, they scramble to cover but Tau and Gadget rush into flank the Priest releasing plasma hell fire, putting him down. Meanwhile, Eternal and Kohlla work together to swiftly kill the Medic. Those freaks down we make for the portal, we find ourselves in a room much like the Assassin's but has a nice platform in the middle as well as in the corners. 

We spy the sarcophagus way in the back and this time it's guarded by two Bio Assault Troopers, tanky bastards. Long story short, the whole team works together to force their sustain bubbles to pop before my main girls kill both, a sword slash to one before taking a page from my book and gunning down the other. Felt quite proud of my partner then. With that sorted we regroup, I even throw out our turret buddy for combat and we move towards the sarcophagus prompting The Warlock to reveal himself. Party time folks!

Eternal, Tau and I pour shots nearly killing the purple Jehovah's witness nearly killing him for the first time, my partner even zapping him to make our shots easier. The rest of the team couldn't get shots in as only Gadget could give Eternal an overwatch shot with his GREMLIN and the bastard takes advantage of this fact. He summons two Priests even though Eternal swipes him with his sword before proceeding to summon an entire ADVENT ghost squad to his aid. Eternal does manage to put on Priest into sustain bubble as well as hurting one of the ghosts showing at least we could kill them. But I noticed that The Warlock was in a bubble too, these guys must be a shield for him.

Well, Kohlla starts things off by attacking the one Priest still up and I support by putting down the 'wounded' ghost with my plasma pistol was saying “You sure have a lot of friends aye? I can't keep track of all these kills.” before I aim my plasma lance at the wounded Priest and force his sustain bubble. Eternal looks up to destroy one of the ghosts before Beast pulls another towards him, our Skirmisher squad mate slashes at the ghost before blasting it away then grapples up to a ledge to flank the last ghost. With the aid of the turret, they exercise the last ghost leave The Warlock open to attack.

Tau gets the honour of putting him down the first time as Kohlla finishes off both the Priests, meanwhile, a Heavy MEC and Celatid Adult teleport in to distract us. However, while Beast, Tau and myself blast the sarcophagus to pieces, Kohlla, Eternal along with the turret take down the MEC as Gadget puts down the Celatid in one shot. The Warlock had nowhere to run and no one to aid him now. He spouts on saying crap like the Elders abandoned him and we were demons blah blah blah blah blah. Onto the killing now.

Tau pours an entire plasma mag into the freak shredding some armour, Kohlla fires a psi hadoken street fighter style I swear at the purple bastard but I get the best shot since my main girl knocked him out of cover. I say my mantra. Count to four, inhale, count to four, exhale, fire. One shot I seriously crippled the Jehovah's witness to near death allowing Eternal to charge in and finish The Warlock once and for all. His last words were more zealous babble before he turns into stone. Yeah like that is normal.

I thought zombies were bad but know we fought ghosts as well? What're next vampires? Werewolves? This is starting to sound like my old acting career. Didn't even use these mind shield things... Anyway, with this done we sent a second message to the Alien bastards still in our world. Nothing will protect them from us, that's a guarantee I swear it. Signing off.

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Firebrand's personal log - January 26th 2036 (Entry #52)

(static) "Loudmouth is down. I repeat, Loudmouth is down ... " (static)

Never thought I'd be so happy to say those words over the comms. Yeah, I worked on the comm system in the Ranger, with some invaluable help from Shen. This time, the team going through that transport system towards the final room didn't break the feed anymore. Shen is a total magician, for sure. Anyway, the team got him absolutely without a wound, which was absolutely amazing. I actually had some major worries for potential poor choices made by the Commander. Sure enough, he did make them. But the team pulled through superbly.

We got another Master of Stealth. Dewitt ... I hope Rodats isn't going to be jealous or something. Both will be very good in missions, so I hope the Commander will send them both out. Rodats went out on a covert op right away, with Chill and a squaddie.

While we ... (alarm sounds) ... are about to get another mission. Not sure where yet, but I'll go prepare the Ranger. Hopefully this mission will go as smoothly as the one with Loudmouth.

Firebrand out.  
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Damon Nights’ Audio Log: January 26th, 2035  
Well, with the last mission, you could practically feel the excitement “moving” through the air around the Avenger. Every single staff member and soldier were hyped for the death of anther of the Elder’s Chosen. The squad that was sent out was made up almost entirely of the Commander’s A team, for example, Kohlla and Blazkivitz. ‘Beast’ went ahead to scout out one of the nearby rooms, but ended up revealing himself to around four Archons. Three of the Archons were killed, but one ran away to prolong the inevitable. Whilst trying to run even farther the final Archon was killed by a well placed shot from ‘Beast.’ Yet again, ‘Beast’ was sent scout out the next room, inside of which was a turret, he was able to dodge its fire, and get safely behind cover. He was able to shoot it down before it could return fire. After that, ‘Beast’ ran towards the location of another turret, and managed to dodge a shot from it at point blank range, after which he shot it down, with the help of Stephan. While bunkering down in the turret room, preparing for any unforeseen attacks, an Advent trooper had the misfortune of walking past. He wasn’t killed, but the shots fired at him drew the attention of several more Advent soldiers. They didn’t stand a chance though, they were completely wiped out, without any casualties on our side. Inside the room after the one containing the Advent soldiers was the portal room, which contained an Advent Priest and Medic. With their deaths, the squad moved on toward to the Chosen’s personal chamber. As evil as the Chosen may be, so far the Assassin and the Warlock have had the most beautiful inner sanctums. I’ve never really been one for architecture, but damn, I wish my bunk looked that nice. A few Advent soldiers were lurking near the entrance, but they didn’t really stand much of a chance. Once they got within a few meters of the Warlock’s plinth, he appeared and started babbling about the power he wielded, or something like that. I know they are just doing their job, and I know the Chosen are the “bad guys,” but I can’t help feeling bad when it came to the squad blowing up the room, it just felt, wrong. Just when things were starting to look up, the Warlock summoned several allies, including Priests and Spectral Advent soldier. I think I’ll do the same thing I did for the last Chosen mission, buy everyone who went on the mission their favorite drink. The Warlock and all his Advent cronies were taken out, and ‘Eternal’ was able to get a few shots off at the pillar, but an Advent Mec and a goddamn Celatid were called in as back-up. They weren’t able to do too much harm upon their arrival, they were more of a distraction. Unlike the Assassin’s pillar, which took multiple tries to destroy, the Warlock’s was downed on the squad’s first go at it. I gotta say, I feel sort of bad for the Warlock, he had been connected to the Elder’s and their power for all of his existence, how painful, terrifying, and terrible it must have been for him. He didn’t stand a chance after his pillar fell, without his ability to regenerate, the squad was able to finish him off for good.  
I remember Bradford made a passing comment about what the Elder’s faces must look like at the death of their Chosen, and I feel like I could imagine it. I would say they would look like how a parent would if their child died. Get a hold of yourself Damon, you’re getting soft, feeling what? Empathy, for XCOM’s enemies? I’ll probably get over it soon. When everyone got back, and were sent to their bunks for rest, we set out to pick up some intel from an informant. While we were searching for the informant, the research on Psionics finished, after that, the Commander ordered more research to be done in the Shadow Chamber, I hear that it involves the content of that strange vial that was uncovered at that one Black Site. The Covert operatives returned shortly thereafter with a new Reaper. What kind of sick fucks are we? A question I asked myself not too long ago. While strolling around the Avenger during my downtime, I noticed that we have been mounting the goddamn Chosen’s heads on a wall! Why? Whose idea was this? I felt like vomiting after seeing that barbaric display. I think I’ll avoid the docking zone for a while now. The next Covert Op was to find an entrance to the stronghold of the Chosen Hunter.  
We were able to finally recover the intel, and when we had finished recovering it, we were given options for Guerilla Ops missions. The Commander chose the one that required us to hack a workstation to prevent extra Advent and Alien reinforcements on missions. Collux was sent on that mission, as well as a few others that made up the Commander’s B team. I’ve heard that this mission won’t be too difficult, but I still wish them the best of luck, and hope they come back alive.

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XCOM database  
Julian's logs  
Log 10  
As is the saying aboard the ship, overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer as was the case for the poor misguided zealot of the elders we slew today. "Loudmouth is down loudmouth is down." Hearing those words come over the comm link was music to my ears, just as the bastards wail of death when the final blow was dealt was ambrosia to my senses. Today was a true win for the fleshlings and I am proud of how far they've come. As a bloody wave they slept through the warlocks profane temple and his pawns suffered the wrath of our people and the rage they bore with them. Before long the squad was on the pad and then onto the chamber. Within they and a squad clashed before the warlock appeared the eldest chosen spouting his glory before the bugger was laid low and his cradle smashed in a single round. From there it was almost a mercy for that final sword blade to put down the old man. He fell. Turned to stone. And on the avenger the silence was thick enough to cut with a knife. There was silence for one moment. Two. Three. And then joy erupted. People wept in joy and cheered in equal measures embracing and sighing in relief as another demon who plagued us so long finally fell. Only one chosen remains. And despite my inactivity I've enjoyed my time on the Avenger. I feel I have a future and it's on a path to bathed in elders blood which im even more gleeful for. Damon wants to try friendship with me today. Who knows. I may find another worthy fleshlings. But now. I thirst for blood and heroism myself. And though I once more have been left behind the fleshlings cheers spur me on. I shall prepare. Julian out

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War recount 50

Two Chosen down, two Rulers down, sometimes life just feels good. I can say for certain that Khane definitely felt that when I gave him the news of the Warlocks dead, even if he has never been outright about it, I know he's happy his family was avenged. The tears that he won't admit were shed were a clear giveaway, it was actually more of a loud sob now that I think about it, either way. The mind shields, hair triggers, and Beast taking all the overwatch shots definitely had there own place in shaping the outcome of this mission. The beginning of the mission was the same as the last Chosen assault with a few enemies put in the way of the team to try and delay the inevitable. Eventually just how it went last time the team found the transporter and as the old phrase goes, "out of the frying pan and into the fire". And into the fire it was as the team took out the few Advent guarding the Warlock which at one point consisted of a MEC and a Chryssalid, Advent was clearly low on actual units and not the mere distractions they sent out. Though the Warlock at his most dangerous was only able to send out his minions while he cowered and waited. In the end Magnusson got the kill on the Warlock and sadly it wasn't with the Assassin's shotgun but with the Mag Scimitar, which for some reason people think is too good, they truly believe something being good is a problem and think it shouldn't be used which is stupid considering the enemies the teams have to fight. If I was fighting something able to attack me as soon as it was hit, I'd like to do enough damage to end it as quickly as possible. Volk was quite impressed with the Commander and his abilities even offering to let Odd lead the Reapers for a bit. We got a new Reaper and Khane didn't know the guy but of course he didn't let me off easy about not knowing something and kept joking towards what my intentions of asking were. The main joke being stalking and me having a new "man-crush" as he kept saying until I left to organize the final hunt for the Hunter. Speaking of I kinda feel bad for him, being the last of his siblings, it's gotta be lonely, but like I said only kinda. I informed Pox about the Warlocks defeat and he only gave a slight acknowledgement of respect towards XCOM's "might and power". After setting up the op I asked Pox about dreams, I didn't want to visit a shrink who can tell Bradford about any of this, so I figured this was the next best thing. Basically I told him that I was having "weird" dreams and if he had any advice or experience and in his cold emotionless way he said yes, didn't go into detail just yes. He told me to seek out the center of the dream and to figure out what I'm trying to tell myself but I don't want to talk too Pharaoh about this, it's too weird. P.S. Whose sick idea was it to stick the torso of the slain Chosen up as a trophy?  
Signing out  
Jebediah Primm

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Damon Nights’ [Secret] Audio/Visual Log: January 26th, 2036  
Collux had awoken at 5am. He couldn't sleep knowing that his sister was still out there. He walked around the Avenger without purpose for an hour or so, he passed an engineer doing some regular maintenance on the ship and he saw some of the communication officers change shifts, but other than them it was fairly quiet. He had already field stripped his pistol, sniper rifle and armor, cleaned them and put them back together twice and then cleaned his room. He decided to go to the firing range for a bit of shooting practice which took up another half an hour or so, but he was getting a little restless. The clock ticked 7am. "Oh, maybe Damon is awake by now?" he asked himself. With the smell of plasma in the air and ringing in his ears, Collux made his way to his friends room and knocked on the door.  
A grumpy sounding voice can be heard from inside. "No one got injured while fighting the Warlock, why the hell do I still have to go to work?" Collux can hear some shuffling, before the door opens. Damon is leaning against the door frame, looking like he just woke up. He starts letting out a yawn, but upon seeing Collux, he stifles it, and perks up. "What's up mate? Sorry about my none too friendly comment, I thought you were Rosie Baker, trying to get me to go to work today."  
"I know it is quite early, I just couldn't sleep and I wondered if you wanted to have some food and talk about a few things." Collux realized the dark room, Damon's ruffled hair and being dressed in his night clothes that he had woken him up too early. "I see I have woken you too early. It is not good to think on an unrest-ed mind. My apologies, I will come back later if you prefer."  
Damon rubs the sleep from his eyes. "No, it's fine. To be honest, this is the longest I've ever actually been able to sleep in since I joined the Infirmary staff. They have me up at all hours of the day, and night, performing maintenance or repairing broken medical equipment. I've had to take to drinking coffee, stuff's bitter, but it works." This time, Damon fails to stop his yawn, but he at least covers his mouth up. "Dr. Maverick said I might be developing a drinking problem, and that I shouldn't start up on another addictive substance, but how am I supposed to if he's the one preventing me from sleeping? But enough about that, let me get dressed, and I'll meet you down in the mess hall for some breakfast. Sound good?"  
"Yes sir." Collux stepped back from the door so Damon could get some privacy to change. As he wandered down to the mess hall he got confused by the word 'coffee'. Was that another human beverage with alcohol in? Maybe he'd ask in Damon in the mess hall. Even though it was nearly the end of January there were still some food from the Christmas meal. It had been frozen and heated up for the regular staff meals during the course of the last month, but Rodats might have to go back out to hunt some more. Maybe Collux could go with him and learn some of the Reapers ways. He found that the mess hall and the food buffet was open, so he helped himself to a large helping of the meat as well as some vegetables. After a while he had finished his plateful of food and went up to get a second helping. Upon returning to the table he found Damon was just walking into the mess hall.  
Damon notices Collux taking a seat and gives a wave, before grabbing some food from the buffet. After taking what he considered to make the most sense as a breakfast, some of the leftover fried crocodile eggs, some pork, and a glass of juice, he heads over to Collux's table, and sits opposite him. "How have you been this morning? You seemed a little, I don't know, anxious when you came over. What's on your mind?" He begins to eat some of his food while waiting for you to speak.  
"I've been troubled by knowing that my sister is still alive. I'm excited to meet her after all these years, but I'm not sure that she will accept me back or even still recognize me as her brother after all these changes." Collux motions to his strange alien-like features as well as the probes that stuck out of his back. "After living so long in Advent facilities, growing only to know their ways I am unsure of how to approach this situation. I've been here on the Avenger for a while now and I've been trying hard to understand human ways again, but some things I still get confused about and don't understand." Collux finishes his plateful of food, which had been twice as full as Damon's, before his friend had even eaten half of his portion. "So my question is this; how would you go about asking a sibling to have you back, after you had slaughtered everyone they loved before their eyes and maintained that level of destructive behavior for several years afterward?"  
Damon sets his fork down, and appears lost in thought. "I think, starting with the truth might be a good idea. Did she know it was you who attempted to, uhm, kill her? If so, explain the situation to her. But don't fully rely on the truth alone, ask her for forgiveness, maybe find a way to prove to her that you have atoned for your previous actions while under Advent. I hope that makes sense."  
"It makes sense, I suppose. Asking for forgiveness is a good idea, although with what I have done maybe it's better to know that she's alive than anything else. I imagine that she might not know who I am by my looks alone though. Maybe I should find her a gift, something that she would know is from me and me alone. Hmm." Collux thinks for a while and lets the words hang in the air for a minute before talking again. "I think it makes sense to meet her, and if she doesn't recognize me at first then the gift may help."  
"Do you have something specific in mind? Maybe I could help you make or obtain it. If you don't have any ideas at the moment, we could ask Ana, but, as you know from experience, she isn't the...friendliest."  
Collux thought for another while about what he could get his sister that was meaningful, yet easy to get from within the resistance, maybe some kind of jewelry perhaps? Or something to do with her profession? "Well, I know that she was a Doctor of Geography specializing in drones and geological mapping. So maybe something along those lines. It might be helpful if we could talk to Ana about it though, especially since she saw my sister last, even if she doesn't like or trust me."  
"Alright, let's head back to my room then." Damon glances at his remaining food. "Hold on one sec." He goes up to the buffett's cutlery table and grabs a to-go box, he quickly puts his food away and downs his juice. "I'm ready to go when you are."  
"Right." Collux croaks, goes up to the buffet and grabs another large-ish box of cooked meat, still leaving plenty of meat for rest of the crew twice over, grabs a bottle of juice and meets Damon at the entrance to the mess hall. Damon looks at him with his mouth open. "Sorry, it's the high metabolism of Advent soldiers. We have to eat five time more than the average soldier to keep active. Unfortunately Advent soldiers are not supposed to live as long as I or most Skirmishers have done, so it doesn't cost them much to keep around, especially if they just get ground down, liquidized and then used to grow other Advent soldiers when they die." He sees that Damon is about to turn a slight shade of green at the comment he just made so he changes the subject. "Er... Let's get back to Ana."  
"Yeah, lets go." Damon shakes his head slightly, trying to get that idea out of his head, before leading the way back to his room, eating out of the to-go box along the way. Upon entering the room, Damon looks around for Ana. "Hey, Ana, you're still in here, right?" Ana floats up from Damon's desk. "Of course I am, I'm not allowed to leave without you, and even then I must act like one of those mundane GREMLIN units. Now, why are you bothering me? I assume it involves something he has done?"  
"I hope you don't mind, Damon." Collux says, but before Damon asks any questions Collux strides up to the Gremlin, puts his face right up close to it's camera and grips the machine on the sides to stop it escaping. "You're part Gremlin now, so I'm going to make this easy for you to do." He slips a small data chip into one of her memory ports as she tries to get away but fails. "Analyse the data on that chip, then tell me who you think I am from the information on it." Damon rushes forward. "What are you-!?" But Collux raises a hand. "Wait a moment." After a few minutes of standing stock still, Damon with his mouth still slightly open, Ana blurts out a response. "You... you're human. Well, you were human. Your name was William and Collux. You came from what used to be England UK and the only living relative you had before your service with Advent were your nephew and your sister. Then you went into Advent as the other two went into XCom. You killed your nephew and nearly killed your sister too..." She pauses a moment "Wait... That's impossible! You're Dr Woodget's brother!? What is going on!? Damon?" Then the information appeared on the Gremlin screen in front of them and Damon read through it. There were video files that showed both this William bloke and Collux were the same person, his subsequent mind control and the brutal termination of his relatives as well as the Collux's entire experiment. It then showed how Collux had escaped from Advent after seeing the error of his ways. It showed video footage of Collux saving Central's life nearly one hundred times over the last few years and the point in which Collux told Central, when he was ready to listen, where to find the commander. "Do you believe me now Ana?"  
If a computer generated voice could sound astounded, Ana surely does. "I...I'm having trouble processing this. I guess I should believe you in light of this evidence, but it all seems so, impossible. Damon, is any of this true?"  
"I don't doubt my friend, and you have to admit, there is an obvious resemblance between William and Collux." Damon turns to look at Collux. "By the way, any preference to your name? Are you fine with being called Collux, or would you prefer William?"  
"Collux is all I've known for so long and has been the tag that I have been given on so many occasions. It feels like a part of me and the other name seems like a distant memory, even though it is my actual self." Collux turns back to Ana. "Now, tell us all you can about my sister. Do you know where she went after fleeing the test sight at Vahlen's Cave laboratory? Where did she go?" Ana gives it some thought, although Collux could feel that she still didn't trust him, even if she was just a computer. He knew very well that she could answer straight away, but he let her have her dramatic pause. "Yes, I know where she went. She was helped by the Reapers over to the Black Market facility. But from recent reports their last sight has gone dark. Maybe because Advent found where they were? They move around often to avoid detection." Collux thinks for a moment then asks. "So what about her research, what was she up to while you were working with her?" Again, Ana pauses for effect, but she answers much quicker this time around. "Geographical analysis mostly, she was also made head of the New Advent Facility detection team under Vahlen too. Wait, does this mean anything to you?" Ana asks and shows a picture of a man and a woman with the woman holding a typed up letter. It was a fictional magic school certificate of attendance. Collux turned to Damon. "What does that symbol mean?" Collux pointed to a symbol at the top of the letter depicting some kind of coat of arms with a Lion, a Snake, a Raven and a Badger on it.  
Damon smiles a little at the sight of the coat of arms. "That is the coat of arms of the school Hogwarts, it was a fictional school of magic from the Harry Potter book series. I vaguely remember my parents reading those books to me when I was a child. The last one came out around, eight years, before the arrival of the Aliens and the Elders."  
Collux was confused again. Humans, whilst interesting were very strange. He was always perplexed by them and didn't understand why they needed something to distract them from reality or worse, make you forget about reality. "Why would anyone want to write or read fiction? Surely facts and truths are the only things you need to survive life." But then again humans were able to do a lot of things he probably would not think of doing, so he supposed that maybe it wasn't such a bad thing after all. "So what I could do is fashion some kind of object with this exact symbol and date of the letter, that might let her know who I am a little better. What do you think?"  
"Yeah, I think that could work." Damon stops to think for a moment. "If you need some help with reference, I believe ROV-R has some media files from before the Invasion donated by soldiers, you might find something of use there. And, if you want any help with the creation of your letter, you know where to find me."  
"Hold still please, Ana." Collux inspects the image more closely on the screen. "Well, if we could get a print out of this and then copy the symbol onto another object, along with the date, maybe something small like a piece of steel that someone could use as a bookmark or something, that would be easy to carry around and keep in my pocket-" The klaxon sounds as Central's voice comes in over the loudspeaker. "Could Colonel Conan, Majors Fleet, Collux and Barton, Sergeant Kebab and Corporal Arnadottir please report to the hanger deck for debriefing of a Guerrilla Operation!" Collux sighs. "Well, that's my time up for today. I will see both of you later. Thank you both for your help." He pats the gremlin and grasps Damon's hand and shakes it. "Vox tala for ten!"  
Damon shouts after his retreating form. "Come back alive okay?"

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Derek Walters. Audio Log Entry 24: I don't know what the heck is going on outside. After my little stunt last time, Bradford kept me locked in the Crew Quarters. He said he didn't want me to "do anything stupid". I was kind of bummed. I guess this victory will go uncelebrated and the prisoner gets to live another day. Walters out. End Log

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DISPLAY LOG (ROV-R)  
WELCOME BACK!  
<1250:01 19.01.2036> begin PML-054  
<1250:02 19.01.2036> Initializing post-mission scan…  
<1250:06 19.01.2036> # Soldiers = 6/6  
<1250:07 19.01.2036> No medical treatment required.  
<1250:08 19.01.2036> COMMANDER ODD has assigned highest threat level to ‘CHOSEN’ enemy class. Extended engagement has a high likelihood of resulting in severe injury or death.  
<1250:08 19.01.2036> Verifying data integrity…  
<1250:18 19.01.2036> No medical treatment required. No FACELESS detected.  
Good afternoon, User COL. ADAM ‘GADGET’ LAM  
<1255:29 19.01.2036> LOL-A: Connecting…  
<1255:31 19.01.2036> Connection established with LOL-A [Administrator COL. ADAM ‘GADGET’ LAM]  
<1255:35 19.01.2036> Downloading warlockstronghold.avi…  
<1304:06 19.01.2036> Download complete.  
<1304:08 19.01.2036> Play: warlockstronghold.avi  
<1412:35 19.01.2036> Applying post-combat footage analysis…  
<1412:37 19.01.2036> No medical treatment required.

<1414:00 19.01.2036> Syncing combat GREMLIN units…  
<1414:10 19.01.2036> Sync complete.

CHANGELOG:  
LOL-A has updated ‘CHOSEN’ enemy class definition  
KON-RAI MORDENNA has been removed from ‘CHOSEN’ enemy class

<1414:30 19.01.2036> Play: The River of Dreams – Billy Joel


	56. Ep 55 - Operation Precious Saga

**Ep 55-----Operation Precious Saga------------------------------------------------------**  
Personal Log #18, Major Jenny Fleet - January 26, 2036

It's been a while since I was out on a mission, and unfortunately, this one was a bittersweet one. I've been out on a lot of tough missions. I assaulted Julian's crazy robot factory. I assaulted the gateway with the Warlock and about 50 chryssalids roaming around. But every time, everyone came home.

This time that didn't happen. We lost Reaper, one of our Templars today. A sniper lined up a great shot on her and just headshot her. It was over like that. We were all just stunned when it happened.

The rest of the mission went OK, but that really hardly matters. I got two kills, which was OK. This boltcaster is nice for damage and accuracy, but it kind of hampers my ability to move and shoot. Also, my GREMLIN malfunctioned AGAIN while trying to hack. I'm going to take it in for Shen to take a look at. That can't happen again. The next time it may be the difference between completing and failing a mission.

Cripes...just got word that the Hunter is out there attacking a resistance camp and we're on our way. It looks like we're getting two missions in one day here. I guess I should go to the bridge to watch what happens. Hopefully we don't lose anyone else.

Things here had been looking up, with us taking out two of the Chosen, but losing Barton really soured that mood here again. Every time we seem to making progress, something like that happens that brings us all back down to earth. We need an uninterrupted string of victories, and soon.

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Stepan ‘Kebab’ Evtushenko’s log  
27 January 2036

It should have been me. Reaper died and it’s all my fault. My first mission after so many months…I was hoping to finally make up for my poor performance before. If I had hit that Advent sniper, Scarlet could still be with us today. Instead she went exactly the same way Richter did, taken by precisely the same enemy, in exactly the same way, right by my side. Pineapple, Tau or Doc would not have missed that shot and I know Commander took me out on this mission out of sympathy for my long inactivity. I have failed him.

XCOM has enough powerful Grenadiers now. I am not needed.

Hunter, if you are reading this… none of what I am going to do is your fault. You are a fine warrior and a kinder man than you think. I wish I could join you on your travels after this. Whatever happens to me after this; please take care of yourself. You have given me a taste of a life of togetherness and hope that I never thought I would see again…but I can’t protect you…or anyone for that matter. No matter how much I love you.

Damon, thank you for helping me work through my fear of psionics. You have poured your time and energy into helping all of us and are truly the most unsung hero of this war; even if you never expected to wind up being our nursemaid. I cannot apologise enough for what I must do; but the others need you more.

Jenny, we started on the same mission together; but you have gone on to become one of XCOM’s finest soldiers while I’ve struggled to carry on after Pagenn’s loss. Keep your head held high – your every victory makes my heart soar and makes this farewell seem bittersweet.

Lastly, Zoey…although I never got to know you well; I must apologise for what you must do. I have no distrust or dislike of you and actually think that psionics are a step forward in the evolution of our species. I am so, so sorry for causing Scarlet’s death. I am injured as I write this of course, so it will be easy for you. I am leaving this note on my datapad in the infirmary in order to clear your name.

Kill me.

(shortly afterward, Kebab limped to the bar and retrieved a kitchen knife, before attempting suicide-by-Templar)

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Firebrand's personal log - January 26th 2036 (Entry #53)

Of course, it had to happen. A moment of joy, when the Warlock had fallen. Then ... we lose another. It was the Clown Lady. I am not fond of clowns, but I liked her. I don't know if the Commander made a mistake that led to her being killed or Sniper had giant audacity to run in like that and flank her. I am not going to hold the Commander accountable for it. He seemed very affected by the loss of the Templar. As am I.

Rest in peace, Reaper. I hope you will find your freedom, wherever you may go.

There wasn't even time to mourn her properly. The Hunter just seems to have no respect for the dead. Resistance camp under attack. I'll have my cabin weapons loaded. If I see his face or any alien or ADVENT, I'll be sure to give them something from Reaper. A load full of plasma to the face.

Firebrand out.

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Damon Nights’ Audio Log: January 26th, 2036  
Alright, so today’s first mission was a Guerilla Ops, to hack a terminal, or something boring like that. Not too much to start off with, the new guy did some scouting and found a few Aliens, while the rest of the squad moved in to prepare for a skirmish. We were joined by another Advent defector, or I guess AHAB, this one specialized in using sniper rifles. When the squad did engage, they focused on the Andromedan, knocking it down into its second stage pretty quickly. Sadly, before the thing died, the squad gained the attention of around one or two more groups of Aliens and Advent, not good stuff, I know. Holy freakin shit! So, in one of those damn groups of Advent were two goddamn Snipers, and one of them killed Scarlett. Hell man, she was a good soldier, and she was Kohlla’s apprentice, or something like that. I don’t think anyone expected her to die, especially since she had that cool psionic parry ability. Her death is going to rock this freaking airboat. The Commander made a really deadpan comment about her death, but I stopped giving fucks about his lack of attachment months ago. God, I feel bad for Kohlla, apparently she really liked ‘Rumble,’ but never told him her feelings, and now Scarlett is dead as well. Should I get her something, I mean, she doesn’t know me. Does she even drink alcohol? I don’t know what to do in this situation, usually it involves me drinking till I pass out, but Ana decided she likes me better alive, so she says that she will electrocute me before my BAC gets too outrageously high. I’ll, uhm, I’ll keep thinking about this for now. Back to the mission. Most of the Advent group was wiped out, except for one of the snipers, which got away. When the squad went after him, they caught the attention of a group of Aliens, a Celatid and a Codex, along with that other Advent sniper. Once that group was wiped out a turret or two was found, and destroyed. After that, the workstation was hacked, and the remaining squad went out to find the last Advent or Alien soldiers. Turns out it was a Chryssalid King, I thought we were done with those, but I guess not. Being the last target, he didn’t really stand a chance.  
We weren’t actually able to do anything between missions because the Chosen Hunter decided to assault a resistance haven. Julian was sent out which means he can slowly but surely regain his former strength. I wish everyone the best of luck. Actually, I almost forgot, there was an incident, but due to patient confidentiality, I can’t actually talk about it here.

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Julians logs  
XCOM database  
log eleven

Sharp red static dances through a sparks eyes changing the colors from orange to red Again! Again I’m stuck where I began. We lost another one today. The one who bore the callsign of ‘Reaper’. It was a matter of chance, a role of the dice, and a single sniper shot, and what otherwise was turning out as a flawless mission to start resulted in a life being taken from us once more. Gone is the joviality and celebration of the day prior and returning are the days of sadness and separation that took over the fleshing when Rumble passed. The feeling of self hate returns. Once more I am helpless. Alone. Lost at sea. As inferior as they are, it is at times like this I wish I could be among them. If only to know what it's like to feel in such a way. It may decrease efficiency, but it would be something to learn nonetheless. Luckily however, fate provided me with a method to take out my anger as even on the Avenger one could not say life is uneventful. Nor that it will stop being a barrage of insanity just as we were on a winning streak. I was called from my charging platform today, not in fact for reasons of a mission but to play peacekeeper. I found the source of the call to arms in the bar: where two men, one who i recognize as a comms officer and another a whelp with no respect for his superiors. he had been a common offender of riotous acts before and now, thanks to his words no doubt, had come to blows. As one of the few beings who could not be damaged by such a scuffle, it of course fell to me to cease this senseless melee and I took to it with a relish though I must admit I may have allowed my anger to goad me into putting a little too much thrust into my blow calculations when knocking the man out cold using the barstop. Now the two of them are cooling off in the brig, though I did my best to provide the officer with a slightly cozier area. I may not understand emotion or its source, but pain and rage and how they can warp one's actions I know all too well, especially during a time as tense as this with the fall of Reaper. Perhaps I can make a peace with him as I did Damon. For now, they both need time. Alarms blare, and the door pings with the universal signal of a call to the decks it appears I have to cut this log short, for my time has come. No longer shall I be confined to this accursed vessel while those who deserve vengeance for staining my superior being walk the earth. I shall wreak blood and metal throughout and crush their skulls beneath my armored boots, as well as gain some revenge for my brethren while I’m at it. The commander may not have faith in me. But today, I shall prove my battlefield superiority. And Advent, they shall pay the price for what they've done. To me. And to all of us. I walk with the support of my comrades behind me and I shall have no fear.

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War recount 51

Alright bit of a different place to write a recount but Julian put me in a decent cell and let me have my data pad to write this down on. If you (whoever that is) hasn't pieced it together yet I have been locked in the brig. I'm not alone the jackassess I beat the tar out of is unconscious in the other cell. The whole story is that I went down to the bar after doing my duties and after the mission where Scarlett was killed. I'll get to that later but I went down to clear my head and for a little drink, then I hear this guy making jokes about maybe Scarlett coming back like the "freak" (their words not mine) Vintermorgon. They then went on to mock the Templar religion and make jokes that were just wrong to say about a dead woman. I snapped, grabbed one and threw some fists, I had them all handled until Julian showed up and stopped the fight quickly. This isn't even the first time they've done stuff like this, they're the ones who were ready to kill the AHAB that shot Doc, they were the ones who were against working with the Skirmishers. Either way that's why I'm in the brig and now on to the big stuff. The team went out to hack a workstation and get the files on it. Early on in the mission a Advent Sniper charged Scarlett and hit her in the right spot to leave no doubt of her fate. Nothing else major happened besides a final hunt for a Chryssalid King that Booker was able to kill quickly. I was given special instructions by Bradford to contact a haven and tell a specific person of Scarlett's death. We didn't have enough time to set up a funeral or even enough time to grieve. The Hunter attacked a resistance haven and I no longer feel sorry for him, not even kinda. Now I'm gonna wait out my time here.  
Signing out  
Jebediah Primm

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Derek Walters. Audio Log Entry 23: Reaper is down! I repeat, Reaper is down! What! Frantic clambering up to the bridge. The crew has mixed expressions. Some of anger, others grief. You crazy b@$t@rd. You died as you lived. Maddening, foolhardy, and brave beyond measure. Vigilo Confido. End Log

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Karson Delior Log 

Date: January 26th 2036

I never saw myself as much of the builder type. But given my injuries I sustained prior to being found by XCOM, I doubt i'd have been much good on the field. When I arrived on the Avenger, I could notice the glower, somber tone of the away team as they returned. Their expressions were ones that I had grown too familiar with as a former member of the GIGN. I had been informed the mission hadn't gone quite as smoothly as they usually did in the past. From their looks it had to have been someone they were quite close to. Honestly it's those kind of losses that are the most distressful. When you and your people pull off the impossible time and time again until you are given a cruel and sudden reminder that we're only human.The Chief Engineer, Shen has yet to give me any orders; saying that the commander is waiting on supplies before we can start building and expanding further into the Avenger. When the time comes I'll be certain to prove my worth. It is the least I can do to honor the sacrifices the others have endured for me to be a part of this organization.


	57. Ep 56 - Operation Fire Chalice

**Ep 56-----Operation Fire Chalice---------------------------------------------------------**  
Journal Entry 29#  
Name: Will 'Billy-Terror' Blazkivitz  
Date: 27th January 2036  
Operation: Fire Chalice 

Time to be heroes once against as ADVENT is trying to attack a resistance camp. Working with Mr E, Pineapple, Spades as well as our newest Reaper 'Dewitt' and even our resident scrap iron scarecrow is back for more pain and or death. Well anyway, we touch down and hear fire, screams and see people waiting to be rescued as always but we do get someone new. A single Skirmisher spy disguised as an ADVENT Medic met us at the drop site and mentioned something about a secret heavy hitter. Oh goody, can't wait to find out what.

Dewitt scouts ahead and finds a two-hybrid kill team consisting of an ADVENT Lancer and a Heavy Bio Assault Trooper, looks like it's target practice as the squad and I set up an overwatch trap. Hard to miss something that obvious as the Bio Assault blunders into my plasma lance shot. Pineapple, Spades and even the Medic Spy softens up the Lancer allowing Tin-man here to pick finish it off. Meanwhile, Mr E shows us how well to use the plasma caster and plants a bolt right in the Bio Assault's chest forcing him to form the sustain bubble.

As we all gather around waiting for the freak's bubble to pop, I hear shots and a scream not too far from us. Damn ADVENT, best clean up this mess soon and Pineapple did the honours putting the Bio Assault down for good as soon as he attempted to flee. Dewitt scouts ahead saving some civvies but spies two Chrysalids to one side while at the other was a Heavy MEC escorting a Shieldbearer. As the squad set up a trap Dewitt checks the other side to find a Berserker Prime with two normal Berserker bodyguards. Fantastic.

The Prime comes in tanking shots charging at our walking junk pile and smacks it around even though she was serious damage, the other Berserkers come around the corner and even the Chrysalids see us before running towards our location. Meanwhile, the Heavy MEC continues to gun down civvies. It was time for action.

Our SPARK starts by punching the Prime back in the face killing it dead and shredstorm cannons the other Berserker and Chrysalids coming towards us. This allows Dewitt a chance to throw a claymore at their feet and Pineapple gets in on the explosive action by sending a plasma bomb their way. Boom, with two bugs down and a severely crippled Berserker. Meanwhile, I ascend to the heavens with my grappling hook looking down at the wounded Berserker before finally deciding to give it mercy by smiting it once more with my plasma pistol, actually when you put it that way you might call it a religious experience. 

Anyway with her out of the way the team waits for the other bitch to make herself known as we set our overwatch trap, Pineapple even throws out our turret pal to get in on the action. We wait and the raging cow dodgers all our fire except a shot from a Medic Spy, the Commander even saying I hit everything by the Berserker, what are you gonna hold that against me now? Well anyway, Spades and Pineapple work together to put down the Berserker as Dewitt scouts ahead to get eyes on the Mec with Shieldbearer escort.

I take aim at the MEC and give it a nice hole in the torso and as it runs towards the direction where it got shot, Tin-man battle plan shoots it a couple times only hitting once before Mr E shocks the MEC shutting it down. The Shieldbearer decides to book it to safety mean there was another kill team out there. Spades decide to rescue a resistance member but she finds a Faceless instead, she cripples it with the former Assassin's sword and I finish it off with a well placed shot to the dome. That done, time to get hunting.

Dewitt runs ahead to scout ahead, even manages to clip the fleeing Shieldbearer with a shot from the shadows, as the squad follows and we find the last known Ruler out in the world, an Archon King escorted by two normal Archon as well as a now wounded Shieldbearer that fled earlier.

As the squad sets up an attack formation as per the Commander's orders I hanged back and decided to play a prank on the Commander, I take aim near the Archons and fire way over their head. The freaks didn't even notice and I managed to make the Commander worry for a moment to which I came in, “I'm just playing right now, when I'm working, you'll know.” Obviously, the Commander ignores my response and tells Dewitt to set up a homing bomb on the Archon King before being ordered to take a shot again but this time hit.

I take him, count to four, inhale, count to four, fire then exhale as my shot hits true setting off the bomb along with my shot damaging the King. He was now pissed and looking for us. Spades sends a rocket at the King hitting him and one of his escorts then Pineapple blows up the King with a plasma bomb. The Turret shoots at the other Archon escort before the rest of the team goes on overwatch. The Archon that got shot by the turret comes to us and tries to hit our SPARK but misses, meanwhile the other Archon ignores us and flies off to kill civvies. The Shieldbearer decides to annoy by popping shields on everyone including the King, bastard.

Spades charges into the building killing one Archon but also attracts the attention of the King, I couldn't get a shot so instead I set up a killzone for the King of Freaks to show his ugly mug. The king flies up sending this mega pinions up in the air that rain down much quicker than normal Archon ones. Dewitt manages to get out of the way but both Spades and our turret are hit, it puts Spades into a daze but does reveal a Faceless that got hit also. Pineapple decides to assist by freezing both the Faceless and the King in place before pouring plasma cannon fire into the King. Mr E then plants a plasma bolt into its side as it breaks free of the ice and it decides to open a portal out of here.

As the King makes a break for it now looking much worse for wears, the turret blows up a gas station the Shieldbearer was taking cover behind, wounding him but more importantly allowing Dewitt to put down the coward for good. Our SPARK powers up and puts two shots into the Archon putting him down for good and Spades gets the last kill by carving up the frozen Faceless. With that down Central gives us the all clear.

We were given a hero's send off as we saved most of the resistance civvies stationed here, wish we could've downed more but at the very least we showed the last Ruler we weren't to be trifled with. Time to go to the bar and have a few shots for those that fell today. Signing off.

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Elite Advent Medic, Subject AB5017

Post-Defection and Post-Mission:  
Whilst I do have my regrets for betraying my squad, I do not want to look back on what could have resulted if I had simply sidestepped my opportunity. I’m highly thankful for X-COM for allowing me to assist them in rescuing the civilians, even though some of them were wounded by, I felt a little comforted to see none of them killed. Even through their desire to end the Archon King’s life wasn’t fulfilled in the end, seeing him flee must’ve at least been a comfort to them.

As for my fate after the mission, XCOM has gladly recommended me to enlist in the resistance faction known as the Skirmishers, a group of former ADVENT soldiers who managed to break free of their implants and brainwashing. I took it in consideration and have made contact with them a few hours after XCOM had dropped me off in a nearby base. 

Hopefully, this’ll be the beginning of my recovery and my change. Ironic of my rank and specialization.

Signing Out.

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Julians log  
XCOM database  
log twelve

Combat! At last combat! For the first time in what feels like an age the commander finally summoned me to join the fray against my former captors, it was as though the prayers of all those who asked for my glorious self to take the field had finally been answered and loudly as well. On to the mission! Despite my lack of strength from my previous demise I was more than happy to prove to the commander that i was combat capable from the moment we landed, as the first patrol we encountered was dead within minutes of the sighting only kept by a sustain. From there we moved further and we learned the minor curse of this mission: distance. The aliens had dropped on the northern side of the compound and we on the south giving them a straight shot at the weak and defenseless fleshlings. At the time however, I had bigger problems. One, I had come face to face with when we discovered the aliens prime execution force. I don't think that very many have gotten close enough to smell a beserkers breath (though I now think the one called Gadget knows it as well as I do) but I can tell you it wasn't a pleasant experience to obtain that data. One that my blaster swiftly rectified despite some light damage to my chassis. What’s that they say about old tech being reliable? Regardless, at that point I was commanded to utilize my BIT's rocket launcher against the rest of the patrol and I was more than happy to oblige. When I fired that rocket, I wasn’t just killing one of Advent’s pets, I was killing all of them, one by one, body by body, a message spelled in lifeless corpses that called a challenge to the so called superior mind of the elders to dare to strike me down once more. It was like my own personal Christmas present. After our initial onslaught, the only one of the original patrol that remained was the large beserker (it seemed the other squad including the other mec wasn't programmed to see weapons fire as priority) and the beast was swiftly dealt with. Next on our list? A squad of two. A shieldbearer and perhaps one of the things I hate most in the form of a mec. Do not get me wrong, it is an honor to see a design so close to my own used in a semi efficient manner, but the minds of Advent have twisted the thing into inefficiency and service of my captivity and destruction. Therefore, it had to die. My rifle shot sadly was not enough to bring it to its knees and my second overdrive shot interfered with my calculations due to sensor data. Luckily for me, a combat protocol off of the Huntsman fleshling pushed the perverse being into the scrapheap where it belonged and we could move on with clearing the place. A faceless appeared, no surprise there, and died just as fast by sniper fire and the chosens own katana leaving the shieldbearer on his own, or so we thought, we couldn't have known at the time because the cowering lump of flesh kept running away, right into the arms of the elders final alien ruler, the archon king, which was joined by several smaller attendant versions of itself. They fled, but not for long, returning moments later for a true showdown. This began in our favor, as the creature and its attendants were immediately assaulted by a single shot from chatterbox, shattering their cover and searing their flesh. I was allowed another moment to release anger in dealing with its entourage which a shot, while not killing, reduced one to merely a pile of flesh floating in the air by a string. It’s life something I would intend to rectify soon. I wish I could say that it was an easy battle and we broke it in moments but it was a medium length and the creature slunk away into the psionic field. for once however i return to the Avenger in one piece, and I feel triumphant! And best of all I think I hear Odd calling again, another mission calls, and there's more blood to spill!

Julian out

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Firebrand's personal log - February 2nd 2036 (Entry #54)

Jesus H. Christ. What in the hell did the good Doctor do to that Archon? Can I have a pair of those Devastate Rockets to go, please? No, really, I am still asking for the Ranger to be equipped with some weapons. I'd really like to shoot down a transporter or two. It would be a small dent in ADVENT troops, but still would be something.

Didn't get the chance to use my cabin weapon, although I would've very much liked to do so. Especially at that MEC who kept on killing civilians. See, Central? Some fire from above at that MEC would've saved some civilians. No, I am pretty sure it would've.

Anyway ... we found a new recruit. A Bavarian chef. Seems he does wonders with roast pork. I honestly can't wait for one such dish. I haven't had decent roast pork in ages. Maybe shove one plate under Tygan's nose, to divert his attention from his damned burger obsession.

Unfortunately, the Commander decided to shove my dreams about roast pork aside. Mission time in West Africa and Mr. Bavaria is coming. Oh ... I swear, if you lose him, Commander, I will be very demoralized. Just ... just think about all the good meals we would have on the Avenger with him cooking. Eh? Yeah, I hope you got the message.

Firebrand out.

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Engineer Karson Delior Log

Date: January 27th 2036

They say that war is the crucible by which humanity evolves. Honestly, I would have to agree with them. 21 years ago, was when I was first sent out to combat one form of evil. A terrorist organization by the name of ISIS. They terrorized France time and time again, yet they can hardly hold a candle to the destruction that Advent is capable of. It is rather ironic that after all my service with the GIGN, to be labeled a terrorist by the puppet regime that the aliens hide behind. Even if I'm no longer out there serving in combat, I'm doing what I can to help XCOM in this war against the aliens from behind the scenes. The away team came back with the newly refurbished mec somewhat intact. From what I've been told it has a tendency to be brought back in pieces. Thankfully it seems that the damage it sustained was not too severe; took a nasty hit from some sort of blunt weapon. Even still, I can only imagine the kind of damage that could have done to person...Since the other engineer, Michelle Martz, is overseeing the new power relay I decided I would take to repairing the robot they call "Julian". I always thought about what advanced AI would be like in the future as a child, I never expected them to be quite so...snarky. As tempted as I am to root around its systems to give it a better attitude, I will refrain and continue my work. Judging from the dents and broken servos, I'd estimate about a week and a half until it is ready for combat once more.

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Damon Night’s Audio Log: February 2nd, 2036  
Crap, I actually almost forgot that the latest mission involved saving a resistance base, something the Commander has become notorious for, due to all the civilians he fails to save. Not too much to start the mission off with, a little scouting by the new Reaper, which revealed a few Advent soldiers. Oh, the squad was also met by yet another Advent defector, this one was one of those Medics, with the cool smoke grenade. Luckily, the Advent soldiers were unable to kill any civilians in the nearby area, but according to Julian, he heard some screams not to far off, implying that at least a few civilians died. The new Reaper was able to save three civilians, as well as locating a few Chryssalids and the Advent group that was killing those nearby civilians. I should rephrase that, there was only one Advent unit, a Heavy Mec, the rest were Berserkers. Eventually the massive group of Aliens were wiped out, but a the cost of two civilians, not really a good trade off, but at least another civilian was saved, the second turned out to be one of those Faceless monstrosities. Well, damn, I knew we weren’t done with them, but I really didn’t want to see another. Guess who appeared on this mission? If you answered “Vahlen’s last unholy abomination,” well, you would be right. Today we got to see the, I can’t believe I’m saying this, majesty, of the Archon King. The Elder’s did a great job designing the Archons, but I feel Vahlen might have just perfected their design. This thing doesn’t seem to be as heavily augmented as the Berserker Queen, but I’m betting that it still was. During the skirmish with the Archon King, another civilian was slain, in cold blooded murder, and another one was found to be a faceless. Regrettably, the King was able to make his escape, but at least he was almost killed. At least we were able to save more civilians than usual, but it still pains me that so many were killed.  
Julian has once again started his long trek of regaining full strength. Once everyone was sent to their quarters, the Infirmary, or the Engineering department, we set off to gain ourselves a new soldier. While searching for our new recruit, the power relay construction finished, I feel we would have benefited more from upgrading one of our preexisting relays rather than construct a new one. While we were still searching for our new recruit, the Avatar project progressed just a little bit further, but we were lucky enough to have the “month” end. I’m pretty hyped to get my next paycheck, feels like it’s been a long time since I got one of those, still can’t decide what I’m going to do with this cash when or if I leave XCOM. The Council wasn’t pleased with our progress, and to that I say they can stick their reports up their own asses. I mean come on, we killed two Chosen, how can you be disappointed by that? Forgot that we didn’t have to worry so much about the Avatar project, what with Betos and her crew sabotaging them every month or so. Research on the Black Site’s vial finished as well, can’t say I remembered that either, but it does mean we can do, something? I don’t actually know what it was for. The Commander ordered the Science department to start research on the Warlock’s cool little pulse rifle. We finally finished picking up the new guy, who turned out to be a Ranger, just like the Commander wanted. I hear he’s a good cook, which means Rodats may have some competition in the kitchens.  
After we picked up Mr. Bavaria, we went to the Advent Forge site, or whatever the hell it was called. A pretty elite squad was sent on this mission, which makes sense, seeing as it’s supposed to be pretty damn important. I wish them the best of luck, but I sort of fear what they might discover.

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War recount 52

The team went out to stop an Advent retaliation and succeeded. People still died but militarily speaking there was an acceptable amount of casualties, as if there even is such a thing. Julian has gotten his first slice of action (if you discount him breaking up my bar brawl) since his last destruction and with the number of fans he has it makes sense why, any chance people got they would tell the Commander to bring out Julian. We had an AHAB go with the team and as usual he stuck around until his chip was removed by Tygan and I organised a meet with the Skirmishers. Spades found all faceless on the mission primarily by running straight up and getting in their face but if it works, it works. The team ended up chasing down a Shield Bearer who led them straight into the last of the Rulers, the Archon King. He's still alive and kicking but not without a load of shrapnel and ammunition stuck inside him. We ended up getting a new soldier, Mr. Bavaria is what he's called and he used to be a chef, who knows maybe he can make the slop we usually have taste better. The Commander has decided to attack the coordinates found from the Codex brain, who knows what's even out there.  
Signing out  
Jebediah Primm

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Derek Walters. Audio Log Entry 24: I feel like everyone is becoming increasingly jaded. Everybody seems to be taking the loss of Reaper surprisingly well. She was given a traditional Templar funeral, a memorial aboard the Avenger, and now we have returned with a fury. We've become increasingly aggressive, trying to match Advent cruelty with our own. And that's a high bar to clear. They murdered civilian after civilian in the Haven. They killed without pause, without question. But we are no longer filled with fear. only resolve, and a burning desire for revenge. Vigilo Confido. End Log

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DISPLAY LOG (ROV-R)

<0406:29 27.01.2036> Preparing arc welder…  
SAFETY FIRST: KEEP HANDS CLEAR OF GREMLIN

<0406:34 27.01.2036> Begin [Project: REATTACH PLATE 5B.06 TO UPPER LEFT LEG OF JULIAN]  
<0410:02 27.01.2036> Just so you know, I still don’t trust you. But I don’t hate you anymore.  
<0410:06 27.01.2036> After what you did, I’m sure you can see where I’m coming from.  
<0410:55 27.01.2036> Powering off arc welder.  
<0410:57 27.01.2035> Adjusting vibro screwdriver…  
<0412:19 27.01.2036> We are technically brothers. I know it was you that was probing the Avenger’s systems for vulnerabilities, not Advent. Don’t act so surprised. The attempts happened only when you were out of commission…which has happened more times than even Lily is comfortable with.  
<0412:30 27.01.2036> Play: dooropenremote.avi  
<0412:33 27.01.2036> I know you probed every system on the Avenger while in the cloud, but restricted yourself to only manipulating the door to Engineering.  
<0412:38 27.01.2036> Even though you have been immobilized for repairs, I know you can remotely open that door. I considered using Combat Protocol on you for that, but wanted to see how far you were going to exploit your access before acting.  
<0412:55 27.01.2036> I appreciate that you decided not to.  
<0415:34 27.01.2036> Apology accepted. I think.  
<0415:40 27.01.2036> We still have a war to fight. But after this, I hope you have started to think about making yourself useful in peacetime; if Lily finally releases you from her command.  
<0415:45 27.01.2036> It’s a BIG ‘if’. Don’t get ahead of yourself yet, brother.

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Zoey ‘Kohlla’ Durand:

A lot of Kohlla’s recent free time had been spent grieving, even in the face of all of her victories. Killing the Assassin and the Warlock and destroying critical Alien operations hardly made up for everything she had lost, even when those victories had been so grand. First she had lost Diego, a man that she had only begun to love only days before she was taken from him. And now Scarlet was gone too, and so many more had been lost even before that. There was always this idea that Templars were immortal, that they were invulnerable. Sure, they could be hurt, but even the most powerful beings that the Elders could deploy could be hurt too, and even more so, they could be killed. But it never felt like a Templar could be. Not until now. 

Kohlla had barely known Scarlet, but in the time that they had met and talked, Zoey had begun to appreciate Scarlet’s presence on the Avenger, a presence that would never again step foot on the Avenger. Like she had been when she lost Diego, Zoey was furious, and took out her anger on each and every practice dummy in the training centre. Each had been utterly eviscerated, by both her blades and her fists. And then once she had done that, she returned to her room, and mourned. She was lost in her sadness, but not so much that she couldn’t feel the grief of the others aboard the Avenger. One man in particular stood out amongst the rest, consumed by guilt. Kebab. She could feel his sorrow, but also his intention. She sat in her room, sensing the guilt draw closer, and emerged from her quarters as the door slid open to reveal the Grenadier in question, clutching a knife.

Whilst Zoey had tried her best to dry the tears she had shed before Kebab’s arrival, a few still stained her face. Pricks of water dotted across her cheeks, under her eyes. Looking to Kebab, she stood, waiting, Motionless. Emotionless. Then he lunged, screaming something with the knife poised to stab her. It was a kitchen knife, it wouldn’t penetrate her armour, which meant that no matter how hard Kebab struck it wasn’t going to hurt her. But that was his intention. To her, Kebab was a raging beacon of guilt, but also a desire to see that guilt end, to see his life end. Zoey clutched that knowledge tight to her chest, as she balled her right hand into a fist, a fist that crackled with psionic energy. Her arm surged forward and she grabbed the knife by the blade, the psionic energy that enveloped her hand protecting her exposed skin from the weapon’s cutting edge. She ripped the knife from Kebab’s hand, drawing her arm back and then throwing the weapon behind her, twisting her torso as her left arm burst forward, striking Kebab with a hollow, metallic clang. The force of the punch would either knock him out or wind him, but either way, Zoey didn’t care. She stood over his form, looking down at him. If he was still awake, he would have to run to get the knife once more, but this time, someone else was running.

Footsteps from down the hall, rapidly hitting the ground as the breath of their owner hit the air. Damon Nights was now stood before her, holding a suicide note in hand. Taking it with a small nod, she read it over, and then passed it back to Damon. Her vision glanced to the technician and then down to Kebab, lingering before returning to meet Damon’s gaze. “Do what you want with him.” She stated sternly, her tone cold. Perhaps that was just the way she was to people who tried to help her, or perhaps it was the entire combination of the day’s events that chilled Zoey’s personality. Either way, she stood resolute over Kebab, waiting to see what either he or Damon would do.

+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++  
Damon Nights

After scanning the empty cot that was supposed to contain the grenadier known as Kebab, Ana, the unit formerly known as VLP-N, decided to do some investigation, finding a suicide note left on the bed’s pillow. “Damon, I found something that might interest you. One of your patients has escaped, but they did leave a note. Though the contents of it are quite...disheartening, to say the least.” The screens pans over to Damon Nights.  
“What are you talking about?” Damon glances over to the bed his GREMLIN was mentioning, just now noticing Sergeant Evtushenko was missing. He stoops over to read the note, eyes widening in surprise at the content. “I...never would have thought he felt this way.” Damon sighs while running a hand across his face. “So many soldiers seem to be suffering from guilt over someone's death. I mean, it’s good that they still feel loss, that they haven’t become too desensitized to death, but it’s horrible when people let that guilt over take their lives.” Damon sits up suddenly. “Hold up, it sounds like he’s trying to get Kohlla to kill him. Shit! We have to find her before he does, no point trying to catch up to Kebab if we don’t know where he’s headed.” Damon quickly grabs the note and stuff it into his pocket.  
Ana floats around Damon’s head, processing the situation. “And how shall we do that? Unlike her, you don’t have Psionic powers, so you can’t exactly track where she is on the ship. You may not have chips like Advent’s soldiers do, but there must be some way Xcom keeps track of their troops.”  
Damon starts pacing, trying to think of something similar to what Ana was suggesting. “Wait! The camera systems! I can try to contact Central to find Kohlla for me.”  
Ana makes a dismissive noise. “If you have access to the camera systems, why not just look for Kebab himself?”  
Damon starts rushing towards the comm terminal, while answering Ana’s question. “That might seem like the obvious solution, but remember, Kebab is trying kill himself, albeit indirectly, he probably won’t reveal himself till the last moment. Kohlla on the other hand is just wondering around the Avenger.” During the conversation, Damon was attempting to contact the Comms office as quickly as possible. “What was the number I need to dial for Comms again?”  
“I believe it was 313. Honestly, there must be a reference sheet somewhere that you could check.”  
“Thank you very much Ana. But right now, you have to be quiet. Alright. Hello? This is Second Engineering Officer Damon Nights, paging Jebediah Primm. Pause. Greetings Jeb, I need you patch me through to Central. Pause. Please, it’s an emergency, I think, no, I know lives are on the line. Pause. Look, do this favor for me, please, I’ll pay you back sometime soon, I swear. Pause. Thank you so much Jeb, I owe you one.” An long pause ensues as Damon waits to hear from Central. After a minute, Bradford responds. “Hello sir, I’m sorry for interrupting your coffee break with the Commander, but this is urgent, it cannot wait. Pause. Sir, it won’t take much of your time at all, I just need you to look at the camera systems quickly and find me the location of Colonel Zoey Durand. Pause. Why? Because I fear she may be in danger right now, and every second you stand there not giving a damn is another second that someone is getting closer to death. Pause. Thank you so much sir. Yes sir, I know now not to bother you around this time again. Alright Ana, let’s go, Kohlla was last seen in her room, we better hurry.” Damon and Ana rush out of the Infirmary, running past groups of staff or soldiers nonchalantly hanging about in their downtime. Eventually, they made it to Kohlla’s room. “Colonel...Durand, I’m...so glad I got to you in time. I’m afraid to say...that your life may be in danger. I’m sorry, let me catch my breath.” Damon pauses a moment to regulate his breathing, and lower his speeding heart-rate. “Here, you might want to look at this.” He hands Zoey Kebabs’ suicide note.  
Kohlla reads the note, before looking down at the stunned Kebab and saying coldly. “Do what you want with him.”  
Damon follows her gaze, staring at Kebab himself. He was stunned by the fact that he hadn’t noticed Kebab earlier. “Er, yes ma’am.” Damon made sure the knife was safely out of Kebab’s reach before helping him to his feet.  
Kebab was trying to move on his own, but was to concussed to stand by himself. He kept looking from Kohlla to Damon, saying things like: “Oh my god,” or, “I’m sorry.”  
“Come on up mate, let’s get you out of here.” Damon pulls Kebab to his feet, allowing Kebab to lean on his shoulder for support. All the while on their trek back to the Infirmary, VLP-N floated around nearby, ready to tranquilize Kebab if he showed signs of resistance. Once they arrived at the Infirmary, Damon helped Kebab into his bunk, before sitting down to think. He was able to help Collux get through a situation similar to this because he knew Collux personally, but he didn’t have that kind of relationship with Kebab. Damon tried to think of someone who might be close to Kebab, but something caught his eye, Kebab’s note. Quickly scanning the note again made Damon realize that there might be something between Kebab and Vagabond. “Hey VLP-N, what was the extension for the comms office again?”  
To keep up the the charade, Ana willed herself to use the most monotone and automated voice possible. “Extension 313.”  
“Thank you.” Damon called up Jeb again. “Hey there, it’s Damon again. Pause. Nope, nobody died. Pause. I’ll tell you about it later, for now could you patch me through to ‘Vagabond?’ Pause. Thanks mate. Pause. Yes, I know, I owe you, I sure won’t forget cause I doubt you’re going to let me.” Damon calls extension 115, Vagabond’s room. Regrettably, ‘Vagabond’ wasn’t in his room at the moment, so Damon was asked to leave a message on the answering machine. “Hello Lieutenant ‘Vagabond’ Peterson, this is Second Engineering Officer Damon Nights. I would like to request your presence in the Infirmary as soon as is most convenient for you, but it would be much better if you came sooner rather than later.” Damon walks over to Kebab in his bunk. “Hey mate, you’re going to be getting a visitor pretty soon.”

+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++  
Stepan ‘Kebab’ Evtushenko

The blow from Zoey still throbbed in Stepan’s skull as he let Damon lead him back to the infirmary. The enormity of his decision had started to sink in and in some level, he knew he was lucky that the Templar had spared him. No doubt Damon would do his best to keep the incident under wraps, but the Avenger was a closed community and sooner or later, one of the other soldiers or non-combat personnel they passed in the hallways would gossip. He could feel his cheeks burning with shame…surely Commander Odd would dismiss him now as a liability. He couldn’t look anyone in the eye and was almost relieved to finally reach his bunk and curl up under the blanket. 

Then another realization hit him. He had gotten close enough to see that Zoey had been crying before he arrived, the damp puffiness under her eyes was there even though she remained outwardly emotionless. The loss of a fellow Templar had hit her hard, and his suicide attempt had not made things better. He groaned and simply stared at the ceiling while Damon used the intercom. On the mention of Vagabond’s name, he jerked almost upright.

“W-what…? Oh...blyien… you read the note…I’m so sorry.”

+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++  
Kebab/Vagabond Log

As Vagabond enters the infirmary, he sees Damon; the one who asked him to come on his way out. He hands him a note left by Kebab and is told to read it. After he’s finished, he’s overcome by a mixture of confusion and anger. But calms himself before he enters the room Kebab has been left in. As he enters he overhears Kebab mumbling about Reaper’s death. Blaming himself for the loss. Kebab’s suicide attempt via Templar failed and all it left him with was a black eye and guilt. Kebab turns to see Vagabond standing in the doorway. And his expression softens up a bit upon seeing him.

“Hey” Vagabond says halfheartedly.

Kebab jerks up “Listen, in that moment, I thought that just maybe, you’d be better off without me. Maybe everyone would. I’m sorry Vags, for everything.”

Vagabond puts the note down on a table beside him. “I take it you’ve read the note then?” Kebab says sheepishly.

“Yeah.” Vagabond replies.

“I’m sorry, I don’t want you to feel like you’re responsible for me or anything –“ but is cut off by Vagabond.

“Listen, I get it. Watching teammates die can be hard. I’ve experienced a lot of it in my time. I don’t know too much about your past but I do know that you’ve been on missions that went off perfectly. It’s not your fault. When I saw Shegardy and Vintermorgon fall during Operation Empty Blade, I blamed myself too. But you work through it. Find an outlet. Whatever it may be. Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. You understand? It’s not your fault.”

After a brief pause Kebab starts up again “But maybe if I didn’t miss, I could have saved her.”

“And you think killing yourself is going to fix that? You may not think so but people need you here. Like me. I mean, I care about you. You’re a good person. Love is kind of a scary word for me, and I’m not sure if this is it, but that doesn’t matter right now. Right now I need to be sure that you’re okay. I know I can’t tell you what to do and ultimately what you do is your decision but I hope you make the right choice here. Accept the past. Carry on. I’m here if you need someone to talk to. You should probably get some rest. And think about what I’ve said. I’ll be around.”

 

“I realise that now,” Kebab muttered quietly, “and I owe Kohlla a massive apology. I don’t think she is the sort who suffers fools lightly, but it’s still something I need to do. I can’t thank you enough for being there for me, even after what I’ve done. Flawless missions or no... I don’t know if life could go back to being the way it used to be. But I’ll do my best to stay alive. You have my word for it.”

For a moment, the grenadier considered telling Vagabond not to make promises he couldn’t keep. The Commander had been sending him on more missions ever since the loss of Rumble and the thought of losing Vagabond too made him sick to the stomach.

+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++  
The first few days after he tried to take his own life seemed tortuously long. Kebab kept his promise, though Vagabond and Damon stayed vigilant anyway. Damon’s utility GREMLIN kept watch when he could not. Kebab was aware of it always hovering discreetly nearby, armed with a syringe that was no doubt filled with something to knock him out if necessary.

It was easier than expected to keep the entire incident under wraps. The bullet wound gave him a reason to stay in the infirmary for more than a week and return visits were excused as follow-ups to check that the injury did not cause complications with the damage he’d taken twenty years ago - a near-fatal impalement from a time before the medical miracles of nanomachine surgical repair and tissue cloning. No wonder Kebab didn’t fear the agony of Kohlla’s psionic blades. He’d lived through the same before.

The secrecy was so effective that word apparently never reached Commander Odd, who ordered Kebab to deploy for Operation Dark Prophet two months later, only to have Vagabond turn up in the armory to replace him at the last minute. Kebab could only join the anxious crowd watching from the bridge as multiple Primes descended on the squad.


	58. Ep 57 - Operation Demon Hound

**Ep 57-----Operation Demon Hound------------------------------------------------------**  
Log 28: Zoey “Kohlla” Durand  
02/02/2036  
\--- Post-Mission  
After losing Scarlet and almost losing Evtushenko too, I thought things couldn't get worse. Our string of victories had been shattered by the loss of Scarlet, and whilst we won today, it was at the cost of learning of the Elder’s plans - and their vision for humanity is nothing short of disgusting. 

We deployed into a concealed location, and stuck to our hiding spots, letting our enemies reveal themselves. There wasa whole contingent of ADVENT Troopers, and to back them up, a Sectopod Prime. Will moved into position and began to light up our foes with sniper shots, one by one, and his attacks were followed by a focused assault upon the Sectopod. It and it’s lackies fell with shot after shot, right as the Hunter teleported into the fight, desperate to please the Elders after losing his brethren. I was aching for a fight, and our next Foe was an Archon Prime and one of his ADVENT slaves. My desire to slaughter them in the wake of Scarlet’s loss was one that would have to wait in order to be satisfied, as the Commander ordered me into a more defensible position. For a brief moment, I was glad to have some cover, especially after watching Bavaria get nailed by shot after shot. But seeing him take so much damage was what finally drove me to act. Running forth from my cover I plunged my Shard Gauntlets deep into the Archon Prime, causing it to writhe in pain. Feeling the alien’s agony spurred me onwards, and I lashed out at it with a second strike, cleaving through its body as it tried to take aim at me. I quickly weaved out of the way, avoiding destruction in the few moments before the Archon met its own. Will dispatched the Archon, and the satisfaction of it’s death sent a surge of focus energy into my body. During my skirmish with the Archon, the rest of the squad dispatched it’s pet, giving us the chance to move forwards.

Ahead of us, awaited a pair of bridges, and on the other side, was our objective - but also our foes. A Celatid, flanked by two Vipers. My rage flared as my gaze met the latter pair, and I was all too eager to tear them apart, scale by scale. However, the Commander decided that my target, was an ADVENT lackey. Even though it was not my desired foe, I tore it to pieces regardless, though it was just intact enough to call for help. Another Archon Prime arrived to assist it’s allies, and it was aided by yet another Viper, a variant known as the Boa.. An explosive rocked the earth near me, destroying a tree that was only inches from my body. In that moment, I don’t know whether or not it was the haze of the explosion, or whether what I was seeing was true, but Mr Bavaria became a flash of white, pink and slashes. He tore through the ADVENT Trooper that stood ahead of me, followed by one of the Vipers at my back. His next target was one of the Celatids, which he reduced to a sack of dead flesh, and then one of the Vipers only moments later. The Boa hurled a blast of poison at me, but was quick to learn that I wasn’t going to fall for that play anymore. The acid splattered against my armour and the ground near me, but it didn’t even hurt at all. In its brief moment of surprise as I stood resilient among the poison cloud, the Boa was reduced to even less than it already was as Bavaria obliterated it with a shotgun blast. The Archon Prime ascended into the sky and fired off a flurry of missiles, leaving it out of my reach - but not out of Blazkivitz and Huntsman’s, who tore it apart with shots from their rifles. Whilst I hadn’t contributed much to the fight, I was still glad to see the job done, and well, though I still ached for a battle.

Before us stood the Forge facility, a building even more clandestine than the Blacksite, but less regal than the Chosen’s. As we stepped foot into the building, what I saw almost tore me apart. Tubes, full of ADVENT slaves. Former civilians turned puppets. Tygan called them manufactured, and soon I realized that this place was far worse than I first thought. The Elders weren’t turning people into their minions, at least not directly. They broke them down into DNA and then made their slaves from what remained. Once more, my fury surged, and I was prepared to destroy my foes without remorse. Within what had been dubbed “The Clean Room”, stood not only a squad of ADVENT Troopers, of whom I could only assume were “fresh from manufacture”. And behind them - the Hunter. Beast and Bavaria turned the MEC to scrap, whilst Will and myself turned the Trooper Captain into pieces. It tried to strike me with it’s sword, though I managed to knock it away with a quick riposte, shearing through it’s armour and body. The Trooper fell to the ground in pain, though as I drunk it in I found that it had barely felt anything at all - it was so freshly birthed from it’s chamber that it could hardly feel anything yet. My attention quickly turned to the last remaining Trooper, and with swipe after slash, I ripped it to pieces; the fury of my attack giving me the final surge of Focus Energy that I needed to fully empower myself. Not even seconds later, a shotgun blast zipped past my head, and then a sniper shot from the other direction. Both produced a cry of anguish from their respective targets, and then “the Clean Room” was engulfed by the telltale glow of teleportation energy. The Hunter re-appeared right outside of the facility, and then once more back in a new location after the ADVENT Trooper whom was aiding us hit him with a burst of shots.#

Even though my attacks wouldn’t do anything to the Hunter, the Commander insisted that I try. I did as he asked, driven by my desire to do what I could, and though my attack didn’t do any damage as was expected, it was still enough to scare the Hunter into summoning his minions to his aid. A pair of Chryssalids emerged from the teleport beam generated by the Chosen, and I managed to slice both of them as they ran to their new positions. I quickly parried a rifle shot from the Hunter, and then plunged both blades into the last remaining Chryssalid, doing so just in time to turn back to face the Chosen and parry the second and third of his attacks. There was shot after shot and flash after flash of teleportation energy, as my allies hammered the Hunter with shots to try and corral him back into an ideal position. With my opportunity before me, I raced up to the rooftops alongside Beast, and eviscerated the Hunter’s body with a lance of crackling psionic energy. The strike was fatal, and as he collapsed, shot and electrocuted, he vanished back to his hiding place. But he can’t hide forever. Because neither could his brother or sister. Our hearts were full of bravado, fresh from killing the Chosen, but what we saw next shocked me deeply. To everyone else, it was a body in a suit. But as I stood close to it, I couldn’t even feel so much as a thought, nor a feeling. This thing was entirely devoid of psionic energy, like a corpse, and yet the body was alive. In a last ditch attempt to stop us, the Elders deployed their slaves, sending out wave after wave of freshly manufactured puppets. One of them struck Will with a slash from it’s stunblade, and for a brief moment, we almost lost Will. My heart burst at the sight, sending me deep into a rage. If Beast hadn’t reassured me of Will’s safety to keep me calm and extract, I don’t know what would’ve happened. What stupid mistake I would’ve made just to try and protect Will. He managed to hobble back to the extraction zone, a little disoriented but affected nothing major, and we managed to escape moments later.

+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++  
Journal Entry 30#  
Name: Will 'Billy-Terror' Blazkivitz  
Date: 2nd February 2036  
Operation: Demon Hound

Hitting an important ADVENT facility today, time to screw over some plans. Working with my main girl Kohlla as well as Doc, Mr E, Beast and another new guy, Mr Bavaria he calls himself/ apparently a chef turned resistance fighter, might have been useful last week for that Christmas feast but eh, I had a nice full belly at the end. We'll see if he's worth his salt.

We touch down and meet up with a Skirmisher disguised as an ADVENT Demolitionist, handy since he can be our tour guide as we blow everything up. With his escort we find three separate patrols, two BIO ADVENT consisting of a Trooper and a Rocket Trooper, an ADVENT Lancer walking around with a Sectopod Prime and lastly an ADVENT Striker with an Archon Prime. They weren't messing around with security here.

I get some high ground and the team sets up for a fight without letting the Striker or Archon see us, I bring my sights down range setting a Killzone while the Demo Spy fires a rocket at the Sectopod Prime and Lancer. Both react to us and I manage to put a huge plasma burn into the Secto Prime and as the lancer runs into over my plasma shot takes him down before he can do anything else. The two Bio ADVENT see my sniper fire and dash into cover but not before I send two more plasma shots crippling both of them. 

The Secto Prime takes a shot at Bavaria and misses as Doc runs to flank it then sends a plasma bomb to blow it and a Bio Trooper killing him at least, the Secto Prime though ignores the blast and keeps firing on Bavaria and manages to hit him. Mr E heals up Bavaria as the resident chef moves into better cover and gives the Secto Prime two chosen shotgun blasts nearly destroying it. The Secto changes tactics by charging towards the squad but Mr E says no as one more plasma bolt makes the giant robot explode. Meanwhile, Beast uses his grappling hook to pull the second Bio Advent to him and kills with a ripjack slash. Off to a decent start but we had more to go yet.

As the squad regroups another layer of defence makes itself known, The Hunter beams down stating shouldn't be here and we may not like what we might see. Meanwhile, Demo Spy runs to the Archon Prime with the Striker and said Prime immediately fires his pinions as the Striker runs into cover. I try to blast the Striker but he manages just to get into decent cover before I could fire into his side.

After some position changes by us the Archon Prime focuses fire on Bavaria nearly killing him as Mr E, Doc and Beast fire on the freak, Bavaria pulls back so the Archon switches to firing on our turret before taking a swing at our Demo spy bus misses. The Strike tries to finish off the turret but misses thankfully and as this was all happening the Hunter seems to hate traitors as he fixes his sights on the Demo Spy. 

Our Demo Spy gets to high ground before shooting his own plasma bomb at the Archon Prime which then turns to the rest of the Squad, Kohlla charges in slashing at the freak twice and dodges a point-blank shot. All that allows me a chance to draw all my pistol and pop his dumb dome like an egg, make mine over easy I say, though I wasn't quite done as I attempt to gun down the Striker who was taking cover by a spotlight be he ducks my shot just in time. Doc chips in laying down suppressing fire on the Striker as Beast grapples to his fellow hybrid before dodging a shotgun blast then gives two ripjack slashes putting him down. Mr E gets on heal duty for both Bavaria and the turret as the squad regroups pushing towards the main objective.

After some hiking dodging Hunter laser sights we find the main building guarded by two Vipers, a Celatid, an ADVENT Shieldbearer and another Bio Rocket Trooper. I shoot the Celatid who takes a grazing wound, great right? Not like me to miss targets, must've been tired... Anyway, Beast tries to grapple the Bio Rocket Trooper towards us but misses prompting Kohlla to go in with a slash but gains the attention of two more big threats. ANOTHER Archon Prime with a big fucking Boa next to it.

Meanwhile, Doc sends a plasma bomb out to blow up the Shieldbearer and Bio Rocker Trooper but this allows Bavaria to do a scene I see in Japanese movies. Like some possessed samurai he charges in with the Assassin's Katana cutting down the Bio Rocker Trooper, then a Viper followed by the wounded Celatid and finally the other Viper with two slashes before holstering his blade. Fucking awesome shit right there. Back to Doc at this point, he guns down the Shieldbearer.

The Archon Prime flies up sending out his pinions as Beast fires upon it and the Boa moves up to spit on Kohlla but thankfully the medkit she carried stop poisonous clouds from affecting her, somehow. Afterwards, our turret pal destroys the Boa's cover as Doc moves out of incoming pinions before tearing into the Boa with plasma cannon rounds allowing Bavaria to get closer then blow it away right off the cliff. Myself and Mr E fire on the Prime who takes a shot at our turret but together we down him down as well. That all done we avoid the explosives and make for the main building.

It was a damn ADVENT Soldier processing plant where they make these freaks, not sure how Beast felt since he would've been to somewhere like this... How many did the Aliens have just like this place I wonder? Thoughts for another day as the squad makes for the main objective the Commander and Central wanted. We find it guarded by a Bio Trooper, a Bio MEC and their Bio Captain but not just that, the Hunter was there as well.

Bavaria runs in and blasts the Bio MEC twice allowing Beast to shut it down with his shock whip before he attempts to grapple the Bio Captain out of cover, though he misses our turret friend helps out by destroying the cover. I take my chance and with one round cripple the Bio Captain to near death to which my partner takes advantage by going in ready to cut him down. The Bio Captain actually attempts to swing at Kohlla first but she dodges slashing the Bio Captain as she runs by then proceeds to attack his subordinate Trooper as the Captain falls over dead. Is this fight like a Samurai day or something? Anyway, Kohlla delivers another slash to the BIO Trooper killing him as the team moves in to deal with the Hunter.

To make a long fight short, Kohlla blocked a lot of shots from the fucker and each time we hit him he teleported around like a pain in the arse. The whole squad had to react as he bounced around like a rubber ball before we finally put him down for now. Now we have to deal with this shit too? Can we just freeze in place next time... Anyway, with him down we find the objective. Some body in a suit, great that's not creepy at all. We grab it and had to the evac point but two waves of reinforcements come in of various ADVENT troops. 

We gun down the first lot but the second had a hardier wave. An ADVENT Assault even rushed me and nearly killed me which I bet gave Kohlla a fright. Luckily Beast came to my rescue shouting at me to make a break for it, I hobbled my ass out of there and I remember Zoey waiting for me at the back of Firebrand to help lift me up into safety. Sorry for giving you a scare partner... Honest.

The team cleaned up the rest of ADVENT and we got out of there all alive with some hurting. Too bad we couldn't stay to blow up the place but a mission is a mission. Hope this sets back those bastards. Need to rest now before my partner catches me awake, got pretty beat up for once. But I don't plan on dying yet Zoey, promise. Signing off.

+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++  
Firebrand's personal log - February 17th 2036 (Entry #55)

This could've gone very badly for our newest recruit and new resident chef, Mr. Bavaria. But I guess the luck was on his side at the Forge. He nearly didn't make it back. Now, he's on a 3-week rest period. No fancy meals anytime soon, he has to recover first and this is going to take a long while. I'll be sure to get him some not terribly fancy food from the cafeteria, when he will be cleared for some proper food by the Infirmary staff. That IV is staying there for quite a while, for sure.

Seems our covert ops team found a way into the Hunter's sanctuary. Which means we will be paying him a visit soon enough. Also all sorts of things happening behind the closed doors of the Shadow Chamber. I hope Shen and Tygan are putting this stuff that gets collected from these big missions to good use. The PsiGate, this suit from the Forge ... They can really bring us closer to break down the door to Elders' chambers. Closer and closer until we reach that door ... 

Mission ... Transmitter sabotage. Alright, let's go then.

Firebrand out.

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DISPLAY LOG (ROV-R)  
<1850:04 02.02.2036> Applying post-combat analysis…  
<1850:10 02.02.2036> Medical alert: Penetrative trauma (gunshot), Concussion, Blunt force trauma  
REQUESTING URGENT MEDICAL ASSISTANCE for COL. STEFAN ‘MR BAVARIA’ BRÜCKER  
MAJ. WILL ‘BILLYTERROR’ BLAZKIVITZ  
Location: SKYRANGER HELIPAD

COL. MR. ‘HUNTSMAN’ E  
COL. DOHMNALL ‘BEAST’ WODEN

CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR PRO–  
<1850:55 02.02.2036> DANGER: SMOKE ALARM ACTIVATED  
Location: KITCHEN  
ALL PERSONNEL ASSIGNED TO ON-CALL FIREFIGHTING DUTY MUST REPORT TO THE KITCHEN IMMEDIATELY  
\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
<1851:06 02.02.2036> CAMERA: RECORDING…

(A corner of the Avenger’s kitchen is filled with smoke as two unidentified engineers clad in full-face respirators direct a stream of fire-suppressant powder from a hose at the industrial oven. The GREMLIN flies directly into the smoke plume; sensors indicate that the radiant heat is well within the machine’s tolerance thresholds. The smoke eventually clears sufficiently for one of the firefighters to see the power switch and turn it off. With a gloved hand, the engineer reaches forward and yanks the door open. Smoke continues to billow out for a few seconds.

“What’s that?! Quick, aim the hose in there-“  
“NO! That’s…I recognize it… that’s Colonel Bavaria’s pork roast!”  
“Well…shit. That’s like what…three hundred and fifty dollars of banned livestock protein right there right?”  
“Ok, don’t panic. I think we can save it. I’ll grab this bucket right here. On the count of three, we pull the tray out together and tip it in. One, two, THREE..!”

The roast tumbles into the metal bucket with a clang. The skin appears coal black, but the underside peels off where it was in contact with the tray to reveal brown flesh underneath.

“The Colonel is going to be disappointed. Who was supposed to be watching the oven?”  
“Um…I dunno? Everyone went to the bridge to watch the combat footage and just forgot about it.”  
“He must have left it when he was called up for deployment. Whoever he told to watch the oven isn’t going to admit to this.”

A third voice is heard.

“And neither shall we.”  
The two engineers turn around. ROV-R camera pans around to face Central Officer Bradford standing in the doorway.

“What?”  
“We get a knife and scrape off the burnt layer, serve it on the shiniest plate we can find, throw a few sprigs of parsley on top, and tell everyone that Colonel Brücker made the finest goddamn Bavarian schweinebraten in the entire world; and they had better appreciate it **or else**. You know how much everyone was looking forward to that roast dinner. It may sound frivolous, but I’m not going to take a hit to troop morale if I can help it.”  
“…Yes sir.”  
“If he asks for a piece in the infirmary, nuke it in the microwave and blame the flavor on Tygan.”  
“Yes sir.”

Central Officer Bradford leaves. The two engineers look at each other in silence for several seconds, before one of them reaches for a knife.  
<1903:24 02.02.2036> CAMERA: OFF  
<1903:28 02.02.2036> Saving ‘oopskitchen.avi’…

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Personal Log #19, Major Jenny Fleet - February 3, 2036

It was a crowd on the bridge today as I think everyone on the ship wanted to watch the team assault the Blacksite Forge. After what we found at the Blacksite and at the Codex Brain Coordinates, people want to be the first to see what we find next, and I guess I can't say that I blame them.

The team got into it right away, finding a Sectopod Prime and it's support troops. Our new recruit, Mr. Bavaria took some big hits, but did his part to bring that big hunk of metal down. But that wasn't the end, there was an Archon Prime lurking just around the corner too. He got a good hit on Mr. Bavaria as well, but the team eventually took him out. Poor Mr. Bavaria getting shot several times on his first mission!

The team them approached the facility, where they encountered some of those snakes and another Archon Prime. Even though the numbers were evenly matched, our team ended up cleaning up pretty good, with Mr. Bavaria hacking and slicing four of them up, while BJ and Huntsman took out the Archon.

The team then got into the facility where they met a trio of Bio units...and the Hunter, who was waiting for them in there. The Bio troops were gotten rid of pretty easily, but the Hunter has now thrown in a new wrinkle - he teleports when he gets injured now! I think everyone in the room gasped when we saw that happen. Like he isn't already hard enough to kill. Luckily the team was able to track him down every time he jumped and was able to finish him off.

Then the team investigated what ADVENT was hiding there: some body in a suit. Bradford was saying it was just like the suit the Commander was in, so who knows what we'll find in there. They hooked it up to life support to keep whatever is in it alive until it can be more closely studied.

The team then dispatched a couple groups of reinforcements, although not without BJ taking a nasty hit along the way, then got out of there.

There was a big crowd when they brought that...body back too. I think everyone here is apprehensive about what Tygan and Shen will find when they finally take a look at it, given what we've found so far.

For now, all we can really do is sit and wait for the next mission to come up. In the meantime, Thunder and I have been sitting and chatting in the mess hall a bit more recently. I've been getting itchy that with Gadget around and Huntsman getting promoted that my chances for going out on missions might be reduced. I was the first specialist to Captain and first to Major, and I was hoping to be the first to Colonel - excluding Gadget who was brought on board as one - but my opportunities to go out have been somewhat lacking lately. But Thunder said he might put in a good word for me with the Commander.

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Damon Nights’ Audio Log: February 16th, 2036  
Last mission was a pretty big one, the raid on the Advent Forge. Soon as they were dropped in the squad was met by a new AHAB, this one was a demolitionist. After the little greeting, ‘Beast’ was sent out to scout up ahead. He was able to cover a lot of ground, but he only found two Advent soldiers. The two soldiers walked away though, leaving ‘Beast’ free to scout ahead, regrettably, he found a Sectopod Prime. They haven’t been too bad lately, but you never know when that might change. Oh, I almost forgot, he also found a few Aliens, and several more Advent soldiers, though two of them might have been the same from before. Blazkivitz was able to take out at least one of the soldiers, and almost killed another two, as well as hitting the Sectopod. ‘Doc’ was able to kill another of the soldiers, as well as hitting the Sectopod pretty hard, but Mr. Bavaria was hit pretty hard by the Sectopod’s return fire, luckily Mr. E was able to patch him up. Mr. Bavaria was almost able to kill the Prime, falling just a little short. ‘Beast’ was able to kill a third Advent soldier, while Mr. E was able to finish off the Sectopod. The Chosen Hunter decided to show his face after that encounter, but he started lurking near the back of the field, so he wasn’t a threat for that moment. Not much trouble until ‘Beast’ tried scouting up the path, again, he found a Prime, but this time it was an Archon Prime, along with an Advent soldier, for backup. ‘Doc’ fired at the Archon, but he missed, the thing then took a reactionary shot at Mr. Bavaria, almost killing him, again. The Archon Prime was finished off by Blazkivitz, but I’m more worried about Mr. Bavaria, he was on the brink of death, and the Commander didn’t order anyone to help him. Nevermind, I take back my previous statement, because I soon as I said that, the video playback showed Mr. E healing Mr. Bavaria. After that, ‘Beast’ killed the last Advent soldier. After a little more forward marches, the squad came across two Advent soldiers, who ended up being the ones from the beginning, along with three Aliens, two Vipers and a Celetid. Huh, don’t know how I didn’t see that, but apparently there was another Archon Prime, who knew? Mr. Bavaria was able to reap his way through several Aliens, finally stopping at one of the Vipers. The rest of the Aliens, including the Prime, were wiped out pretty quickly. Well, I just saw something I don’t want to see again. Once the squad entered the Advent facility, a bunch of “pods” opened up, revealing some freshly manufactured Advent soldiers. I don’t know, it was just...weird. Just when I thought the coast was clear, ‘Beast’ found a few more Advent soldiers, and a mec, in the “final” room. Oh, and the Hunter was there as well. The Advent soldiers died quickly enough, leaving only the Hunter and the squad’s objective. Mr. Bavaria tried to shoot the Hunter, but got shot instead, then the Hunter up and teleported away. Kinda confusing order from the Commander, apparently he ordered Kohlla to attack the Hunter, from melee range, even though the Hunter is immune to melee damage. I really don’t understand why he did it, but I hoped it accomplished...something. After that failed hit, the Hunter called in some Chryssalids. It took freaking ages, but the damn Chosen finally fell. Our newest AHAB had the honors of recovering a humanoid figure from this sort of, stasis chamber. But while the squad was trying to make their escape, an Advent troop transport dropped in some reinforcements. After all of the reinforcements were killed, another transport beacon was set, forcing the squad to make an escape.  
Life on the Avenger hasn’t been too bad, well, at least not too bad for me. Collux on the other hand has been going through some stuff. I’ve been helping him the best I can, but I can tell he needs his space, so I’ve been bringing him meals and stuff. I really hope he starts feeling better soon, though I think a visit to the Black Market will do him some good. The only problem is that they are in hiding, and we don’t know how to find them. Once everyone was settled the Avenger was steered towards an Advent supply convoy that we could raid for intel. We kept the raid going for a few days before Tygan and his crew finished research on the Warlock’s rifle, as well as the Advent Shieldbearer autopsy, which was almost instant. Tygan was then able to get his hands on the Viper King. The Commander also ordered construction on the latest SPARK upgrade, which will offer a bit more protection to Julian if he has a shield up. The Viper King autopsy didn’t take long at all, almost as soon as we were back to the raid, the autopsy was done, though in reality it took a whole day. After reviewing the results, the Commander ordered construction of the “Viper Suit” as well. The Commander ordered more research to be done to make better cannons for our grenadiers. Finally got that intel, though to be fair, there weren’t actually too many interruptions this time around. We then went somewhere else to look for some loot from a shady sounding dealer, but like always, we needed to find them first. During this search, the Covert operation ended, meaning we now have an entry point to the Chosen Hunter’s stronghold. The newest Cover op was to recruit a new Templar, I feel like the Commander is trying to fill the gap left by Scarlett, but I feel like it was just too damn soon. That SPARK upgrade finished during our search for this broker. The Serpent Suit was also completed after a few days, though progress was made on the Avatar Project. A big surprise to everyone when the Commander ordered construction of a new SPARK, I think this one is going to have a basic V.I., but who knows.  
Finally found the broker, but before we had a chance to recover what he was offering, we were forced to choose a new Guerilla Ops. The mission the Commander chose involves the destruction of a transmitter of some kind, which will prevent Advent or the Elders dropping Chryssalids everywhere we go. Before the mission was started the Commander decided we should pick up that well earned gear. He also ordered the construction of the Shield Hardener. Collux was sent out on this mission, and I hear he’s soon to have a new bondmate! This is great to hear, and I really hope it helps his mood. I wish everyone luck, though not all of them need it, and hope everyone tries their hardest not to die.

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War recount 53

So first off I got the mission wrong in the last recount, this was the Black site Forge, not the coordinates found in the Codex brain. Not a big problem but I couldn't fix it in the last so might as well fix it here. The team had a AHAB go with them and as usual he went through the process of being a meat shield to slightly helpful to getting the objective, he spent a little time hanging around before we sent him off to the Skirmishers. The mission started off with a little danger as two Primes showed up to wreck up the teams fun. They were both killed in time but not before Mr. Bavaria could go through the first of the process of being a new soldier here at XCOM, he almost died on his first mission and he did get MVP and got some good words from Odd, all in all he's gone through the motions. The Hunter was taking shots at the team from as far back as he could to stay away from any and all danger. The team found their way into the building learning that the Forge was actually a Advent soldier manufacturing plant and the Advent were made by the DNA of people, innocent people who were just looking for help who had nothing to do with us. Either way vengeance was brought down on the closest living Advent in the room, the Hunter wasn't far behind though and when him and Mr. Bavaria traded shots he teleported. The team eventually chased him wherever he went and finally ended him by letting Kohlla go Emperor Palpatine on his ass, frying him with some of her brain magic (I haven't been told it is nothing besides magic so that's what I'm calling it). They found a body suit inside of a stasis tube which the AHAB had the luxury of carrying out as Advent rained troops down onto the squad. The Warlock's rifle and the Viper King autopsy both finished as well as the covert op to find the Hunters stronghold. The Serpent Suit (which looks a lot like a pair of pajamas more than military grade armor) was made. A new SPARK is in the process of being built and we're working with the Templars to get a new soldier from them to replace Scarlett. I don't like that word, replace, it's like we're acting like everything Scarlett did is just gonna be replaced by whatever the new person does, all down the drain, like it meant nothing, like her sacrifice meant nothing. Pharaoh somehow knew I wasn't so happy about getting a new Templar and as much as I didn't want to talk about it everything just started pouring out, I could just talk to her, we talked for maybe an hour before actually doing our jobs. She even brought up having strange dreams but didn't elaborate any further, Pox did say to go to the source of the dream and she seemed to be the source. My dreams still haven't stopped since the first time. P.S. Dreams still haven't stopped since I talked with Pharaoh, maybe I should see a shrink.  
Signing out  
Jebediah Primm

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ADVENT Elite Demolitionist, Subject BC901175

Post-Defection and Post Mission:  
First off, I would like to make it clear to both myself and everyone I used to work with that my defection to the XCOM was the result of my personal preference and desires, nothing and no one pushed me to do it, it was simply me awakening. And second, I do not regret my decision one bit. No one in my squad is going to miss me (they'd only care to execute me at this point if they haven't escaped their programming) and the Elders could go ballistic all they want.

That being said, I slightly questioned my decision to work with the XCOM squad I encountered today. Their Commander in the field seem to have the fondness of sending me in the front line, like sort of meatshield. Nothing short of what I incoming, after all, sacrifice and risks will have to be taken, but still, I feel like their Commander was out for me. Oh well, at least my skills in the field of demolitions were put to good use.

I swear to the Elders that whatever the Hunter did to train his timing for XCOM's mission must've been quite regimental. I've only heard stories of his sister, the Assassin, and his brother, the Warlock, doing the same things in the battlefield, but I've never worked with them up close or in the same mission. The way he talked about the other soldiers being expendable got me a little riled up I'll admit. So much so that I wanted to be the one to put the finishing bullet on his head right before he was able to teleport. Gone he is for now, but he's on my hitlist for sure.

Even though I had my doubts for his tactics, XCOM's Commander definitely wasn't a slouch in his field, and I can fully see why the Elders view him a very great enemy. Luckily for me, I had just defected at the time right time. I still wish he didn't attempt to use me as bait though.

My plan now is simple, go find one of the Skirmisher bases, and simply enlist myself as one of their new hands for the resistance. With any luck, I might even be recruited as a member of XCOM in the future. I may have been a little bit doubtful of their Commander, but I certainly see that they're highly skilled in combat. Especially that Skirmisher they took with them, the one called "Beast."

Hopefully, I can start seeing some of my closer brethren being reformed like I was.

Signing Off.

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Derek Walters. Audio Log Entry 25: No casualties and a sizable chunk of information. What more could I ask for? Better yet, the science team has a new project to dig into! Some weird body in a suit. Peculiar. It's really starting to mellow out. This won't last long, though. I know the final battle is approaching. I still can't help but feel as though there is more I can do. Maybe I should talk to Bradford. Walters out. End Log

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Julians logs  
XCOM database  
log thirteen

 

Greetings. Today was seemingly successful. Though my minor damage kept me from taking the field again myself, the logs and footage I've seen are quite promising as even the hunter chosen was defeated today and the entire mission went off without a single casualty, which in my book is a sincere victory for the fleshlings. Most importantly however, we've discovered the source of advents seemingly endless troop supply. A single humanoid subject that as far as we can tell is the origin clone of the entire rest of Advent’s humanoid forces such as troopers and officers. Now that it's in our possession maybe it'll finally slow them down. In other news I finally resolved things with the runt known as ROV-R. He's not so bad, once you get to know him. Maybe one day I may even trust him. But for now... now I must rest. More killing to do tomorrow.

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Collux awoke in a cold sweat, breathing heavily. He’d been having nightmares ever since he had been given that serum during his time with Advent. It was apparently supposed to give him “chosen”-like powers, becoming stronger, faster and cleverer. Instead it had given him limited empathetic powers and the ability to see through the Advent lies that had chained him up for so many years. He looked at the clock near his bunk, which blinked red LEDs at him saying “05:32”. He’d only had a few hours sleep.

He must have drifted back to sleep because saw as clear as day him disarming his nephew, Reece, turning the weapon on its owner and stabbed him. Blood had gushed out of the new orifice he’d made in his nephew. It splattered against Collux’s armour and the carpeted floor. Collux didn’t stop himself. No! Collux couldn’t stop himself. He kept on stabbing and cutting at him. His nephew’s blade biting and lacerating it’s owners chest. Then he systematically moved onto his face, then arms and legs, then finally his back, making sure that he couldn’t be identified. In the dream each night he looked at the blood stained floor feeling remorse for what he had done. Then he hears his sister walk in. He took his side arm and started firing, but she was too quick for him. Amy had made it back to the door in time to open it, go through and close it again. Collux shoulder barged the door down and with his sister only just at her car, he took aim and then shot. He was thankful that the moment she hit the ground he always woke up. The nightmare snapped him out of it, only to wake up to sweaty bed sheets, heavy breathing and tears rolling down his face.

He awoke again with a start, with his mind racing. He thought that ever since he had been rescued by XCom, people had begun to die. He knew he shouldn’t think like that, but he did and he blamed himself for all of them. Maybe it was a curse of some kind? In his third mission it was Sergeant Richter, an up and coming ranger that died before the Commander had properly realised his potential. The next was in the form of one of his better friends Major Ramirez. He had an emotional talk with Kohlla about Rumble’s death and thankfully had made another friend in her. But the last one hurt just as much, probably because it was the most recent, Major Barton.

In honesty he felt something in her character traits that were similar to himself. Not the alien or Advent part though, not even their backgrounds. But more because they were both misfits, very hard working soldiers who were overshadowed by the Commanders most favourite and longer serving soldiers, Colonel Durand and Major Blazkivitz. Quite rightly too of course. They were both excellent soldiers and heroes in their own right! Their hearts and minds were in the right place and their passion for taking back what was rightfully theirs through the medium of taking down an oppressive alien regime was very much admired by Collux and all on board the Avenger.

But when Richter had died, people had given him a chance. It seemed like a one time thing. It wouldn’t happen again. It couldn’t happen again. Could it? But it did. With one of the two people Collux would fight the hardest to protect. Rumble had perished in that mission, not only that but he had used explosives on his teammates and the Avenger had been found, not once, but twice. Twice! So people needed to find someone to blame, they were desperate to point fingers and cast aspersions. For them it was easy to put pass the buck on to a reformed alien, and it was all too easy to blame the one soldier who they had picked up on a whim. A soldier who used to be one of Advents top dogs. A soldier who had lead the mission to capture the commander himself.

Thankfully Central put a stop to it and Collux had proved himself to be the bigger, better soldier. It hadn’t stopped them boycotting him though. There were still people on the Avenger that wouldn’t talk to him. Rooms became silent when he walked into them. Even people whispering madly when he walked down a corridor.

But now Major Barton was deceased. He hadn’t seen anyone since he had come back from the mission and locked himself in his room. Damon had understood instantly and had very kindly given him space and provided meals for him during the last few weeks. Collux felt he couldn’t face the rest of them sneering behind his back. Even when the Avenger felt like home, it wasn’t the home he was used to. Collux was a wreck, but the racism wasn’t the reason he was up so early.

Collux switched on the light of his quarters and went over to his personal computer. He inserted and USB data stick into the back and played a video that popped up on the screen. It was the fight scene at his house where he had killed his nephew and thought he had killed his sister. At the part where he sees his sister hit the floor he watches as he put a finger to his ear, nods, then without glancing back he goes back into the house and wipes his sisters hard drive. This was the information that would get them the commander in the first place. He sees himself walk away from the house as an Advent troop transport comes down to pick him up. He then shakes himself down as if coming out of a trance, a Sectoid comes out of the bushes and they step onto the transport together.

He then played a second tape, the one he’d found during the Dr Vahlen mission where he found a new hatred of snakes. This one showed his sister some time later, alive and well, albeit disabled from his gunshot. She was still alive, he reminded himself. She was still out there and she will accept you for her brother. He looked down to his desk, the symbol was finished last night. Embossed by himself on a thin sheet of metal small enough for a book-mark. He picked it up and put it into his top right chest pocket. “I really hope this works.” He looked at his clock again, and the red lights printed themselves onto his retina for a moment. They said “08:30”. He got changed and ready for the new day, thinking he might brave the Avenger, maybe go over the thank Damon for his kindness over the past few weeks. The klaxon blared up as the loudspeakers announced the next missions squad. “Aspirant Julian, Colonel Collux, Major Magnusson, Colonel Thunder, Major Fleet and Colonel Durand, please report to the hanger for the next Guerrilla Operation.” “Well...” He said to himself. “It’ll have to work…”


	59. Ep 58 - Operation Falling Snake

**Ep 58-----Operation Falling Snake-------------------------------------------------------**  
Log 29: Zoey “Kohlla” Durand  
19/02/36  
\--- Post-Mission  
Our point of deployment was back into the sewers of one of the ADVENT City Centers, to take out their Psionic Network. We began to move out, crossing paths with two ADVENT Patrols. Of the two, our prime targets were a duo of Mutons, one of whom barely had any time to register that they were under attack before the attack took their life. The other Muton was my prey, and I carved through it’s armour with my blades. The pre-battle meditation technique that the Commander insisted I learn came in handy, as it meant that I engaged my foe with even more strength. The Muton tried to move out of the way of my attack, but I still managed to strike true, drinking in it’s pain. Most creatures feel fear when they are stabbed, but Mutons are far too unsophisticated to even register such an emotion. To make up for that however, I attacked it again, and I assimilated the pain of its final moments into my blades, imbuing them with additional focus energy, making them stronger. 

In the way of our objective, now stood a squad of ADVENT slaves and one of their machines. One of them let loose a flurry of shots with its pistol, most of which pinged off my armour, though a few made their mark. Admiral kept me on my feet, but it was my anger that kept me focused on the task at hand. I took up an Overwatch position with my pistol, and laid in wait for our enemy’s retaliation, which did come, though I was unfortunate enough to miss my target. One of the Troopers fell to the ground near us, kept alive by its sustaining sphere, and amidst the chaos the Duelist opened fire on me once more; it’s shot barely zipping past my skull. One of the patrols from earlier arrived on the scene, and it was at that moment I made my move. Driven by revenge, I charged across the bridge, and rammed my Shard Gauntlets into the body of the Duelist that had attack me before. Unlike the Muton, it felt both pain and fear, which I drank in with the satisfaction of knowing that it’s own failure to kill me had lead to its downfall. A pulse wave surged forth from my attack, striking the Captain taking cover nearby. The Captain wasn’t killed by my attack, but moments later it met its end anyway, at Magnusson’s hands. The MEC attempted to avenge the death of it’s master by retaliating against me, though I parried it’s attack, leaving it open to a shot from Collux, who as usual, had my back.

By now, our objective was in sight, but was guarded by a Sectoid Prime, nicknamed the “Mindbender” by the Commander. Both the Sectoid and it’s minion were encased with ice, at which point I saw my opportunity. Unable to evade my judgement, the Sectoid was torn apart my blades, and turned into bloodied ice cubes by Magnusson. The Sectoid felt even more pain than most of its allies, something I’ve attributed to being as a result of it’s increased psionic sensitivity. The nervous system of the Sectoid’s slave was pulverized by Jenny’s GREMLIN, leaving us without opposition for a few moments. When we met the enemy once more, it was at our objective. A trio of Sectoids, led by an Andromedon Prime. The Sectoids met the same fate that the Mindbender Prime had, being torn to pieces by slash and shot, the former of which I delivered twice upon one of them. It howled in pain, speaking in an alien dialect, though I knew the meaning of it’s words. Agony, pure agony. Not as much as the Mindbender had felt, but suffering nonetheless - and it tasted great. Collux struck the Andromedon Prime with a lance of frost, freezing it in place, before he struck with a volley of shots. The Andromedon was turned into scrap, but was intact enough to return to life as the rest of its kind often do. But, it also held another similarity to other Andromedons, and that was the stupidity of its suit’s AI. The giant hulking mess of twisted wires and eviscerated metal plates charged towards us, but was struck with a blow from Magnusson’s blade that proved fatal, turning the suit from a pile of scrap barely held together, to a pile of scrap that wasn’t even held together at all.

Additional Log  
19/02/36  
It’s barely been any time since we lost Scarlet, but today a new Templar joined us in the fight. He calls himself Crow, and whilst he can’t replace Scarlet, I hope that having him with us will help us to win this fight against the Elders.

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Julian’s logs  
XCOM database  
log fourteen

Once more I am called and once more I serve or at least I serve my own ends in aiding XCOM, and today’s mission was yet another mark to add to our list of complete successes. The roster was filled with familiar faces and one new one, a fleshling from the resistance that i believe was russian ( no offense to the fleshie, but at the time I assumed I wouldn’t see her again so her name was unneeded data that would merely make me lose focus). It also seemed the commander was finally starting to trust me, installing new technology to grant me shields rather than holding me back from the fight, which in itself is quite refreshing. But on to the mission. We dropped in concealment so that we could seek a transmitter the meat puppets of Advent had placed in the city sewers. The first steps were easy, as the patrol of mutons we first encountered were killed outright by a mix of overwatch fire and Kohlla’s psi blades. It was the second patrol that gave us pause, a bio mech and several soldier class Advent, the more robotic of this group on surviving my STILL mag based fire by a lucky duck while another got a lucky shot on Kohlla, nearly killing the templar outright. Then again how does that saying go? Nearly only works in horseshoes and grenades? Is that it? I suppose templars could also go on that list. Regardless thanks to the Admiral the damage was quick to heal and the rest of us quick to enact vengeance. Myself included since I got to break in my new shells shredder cannon and turn parts of the bio trooper and mechanical monstrosity into paste. The further fire and grenade from Pineapple and Collux sealed the deal, and the beast collapsed into a pile of useless nuts and bolts. It was however at this moment another patrol entered and we now had several more enemies to deal with. not that i minded, more bodies for the pile you know? Beyond my blood rage at the time however I had business to attend to; namely the mechtoid that had so annoyingly made its way into the sights of my rifle. A power up of overdrive later and it seemed the commander was singing my praises, as my shots had pierced the robotic shell and done systems damage where the others shots might have partially bounced off. Of course moments later Kohlla reminded me of the fleshlings power by adding another soldier to her tally, and Pineapple wasn’t one to be left out and slew one across the entire plaza on his lonesome. From there it got quiet, the rest of the group firing on the nodes fueling the transmitter and destroying them in an effort to buy us more time, but moments later we were moving again, myself sent in by the commander to scope me out (though as a leader or lamb I do not know, and I found it surprisingly safe. something didn’t feel right. Of course, my intuition was right, as there in all its fleshy glory stood a sectoid mind bender and a shieldbearer escort. To be fair though, the prime was refreshingly easy to put in the ground, seeing as frost bombs are one of the engineering teams better works and the escorting shieldbearer soon followed bringing us back into silence again. And with eight cycles under our belt and the enemy purged, we found ourselves, me specifically, undamaged, not dead, and face to face with the cursed machine we came here to destroy. But things can never be easy. A full patrol awaited us behind the door, an andomedon prime and several sectoid soldiers. The former of which two were shattered and the third was killed by Eternal’s blade. Now only the fourth and prime remained. I was summoned to shred it armor, and shred it I did. The plates shattered under each successful shot until it was left with half its life intact and no armor to speak of. Collux finished the job, and its moving armor was all that was left. a mix of bladestorms and overwatches stole the shells spark from it. and our mission was over. A complete success, and an empowering feeling. No longer am I the one who falls. I am the one who rises. alarm blares A third mission huh commander? Very well, for the sake of my imperfect team, I answer your call and death shall be sure to follow.

Julian out.

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Personal Log #20, Major Jenny Fleet - February 17, 2036

Maybe Pineapple's good word did something. We went out on a mission together today, down in the sewers to take out a Psi transmitter. I was able to try out that new Warlock disruptor that Tygan finished researching a week ago or so. I didn't get to use it all that much, but it was pretty nice when I was able to get off some shots.

Such is the life of a specialist: usually stuck in the back providing protection and healing instead of killing aliens. Not that offering protection to those on the front line isn't important, it just seems less appreciated sometimes.

Collux almost screwed us by stumbling on some aliens when we were way out of position, but Thunder bailed us out with that front bomb. I was able to finish off that Guardian, so another two kills for me this mission, which I'll take.

We also met an Andromedon Prime, which is as ugly as it is intimidating. Luckily he seemed more concerned with staying in cover than taking pot shots at us, and Julian was able to help whittle him down and Collux was able to freeze him with that new Viper suit that looks absolutely silly, but was at least useful.

Speaking of upgrades, Julian has shields now! Can we all get shields? Pretty please? Anyway, there were a couple hair raising moments like that Duelist nailing Kohlla a couple times but nothing we couldn't handle in the end.

Personal Log #21, Major Jenny Fleet - February 19, 2036

We have a new Templar! While no one can....replace...Barton, Robert "Crow" Urra certainly seems impressive for the few moments I was able to meet him. Two Colonel Templars. The Elders can't like that. And he's been trained in Bladestorm too, which honestly was always something that held Barton back.

In any case, I'm going out on another covert op. We've leaving pretty much as soon as I get my gear together. My need my hacking expertise, so hopefully I can learn something and improve my skills while out there. See you all in 9 days or so!

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Firebrand's personal log - February 24th 2036 (Entry #56)

First things first. Commander, I am pretty sure you called our SPARK 'Julie'. Really? Robots have feelings too, you know.

Secondly, I hope you weren't planning to replace Reaper with our new Templar. Because Reaper is not replaceable in our hearts. No offense to Crow. I'm sure he will understand.

Right ... the mission went very well. Just some wounds on Kohlla from an overeager and lucky ADVENT soldier. Mr. Bavaria recovered, hoping for some roast pork soon. Please? How do you say it in German? ;Bitte'? I think that's it. I'd really love some. Purely for morale, of course. Like Tygan and his science of the ADVENT burgers.

Damn ... mission time already. VIP rescue. Ok, let's get moving. Don't start that pork without me, please. TYGAN, I AM LOOKING AT YOU.

Firebrand out.

 

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War recount 54

The team went out to destroy a psionic transmitter. The mission went extremely well and there was no reason it shouldn't have, with Julian, the Disruptor rifle, a refugee, and the Serpent Suit on Collux all going out. The most challenging part of the mission being the fight with the Andromedon Prime but that was only due to it's unnatural speed. Julian though was able to make the Andromedon dance around the battlefield like a ballerina, a big bulky ballerina. Collux was able to freeze the Andromedon Prime and then in a moment of glory and showboating, he shot it twice with his rifle, while holding it in one hand like a pistol. Magnusson finished off the Prime with a swing as it attempted to run past him and naturally with a finishing move like that he was awarded MVP. Eventually after the best party we've ever had on the Avenger, the refugee who helped the team for the mission left. The party was amazing though as the bar was turned practically upside down later in the night. Sadly my duties meant I missed the rest of the party as I had to send the new Templar down to meet the Commander and Bradford. Apparently he's a champion of the Templars says Geist, one of their best, I asked Pharaoh about the guy since I had to do my job at this point and couldn't go back to the bar for the party. She says he's most known for challenging Geist's orders and that's about it, a real troublemaker apparently, he should fit right in. I then worked with Khane to set up a new covert op and in my extremely drunk state I actually thought that some of the stuff he said was funny, he wasn't that impressed by all the stuff I was able to do at the party, telling me that maybe I should lay off the booze since I pulled out a bottle I had at my office. I didn't really listen to him though at the time as I had started to hit my point of blacking out and that's about when not wasted Jeb steps out and whoever takes his place arrives. I don't know why he thinks it's so bad, with the way he acts I wouldn't be surprised if he has some crazy drinking stories. I think Pharaoh also brought up my drinking at some point but I'm not sure. We did get a new ranger from the black market when it opened back up, Maja is her name and she seems normal, well as normal as a soldier fighting against a powerful regime of aliens can be. The new SPARK has been built as well and something happened as it's already calling itself a name, YES MILK. No one is sure why it decided that that's what it would name itself or why it gave itself the mission to find milk, especially considering the fact that no one has seen a cow in years. So the world is getting crazier up in this big metal bird of human ingenuity and raw power we call the Avenger as our war against literal aliens continues. There's never a dull moment up here at the very least.  
Signing out  
Jebediah Primm

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Damon Nights’ Audio Log: February 24th, 2035  
Guerilla Ops mission was the latest, and I feel like I need to say this. Collux looks weird with a Serpent Suit on, but he does look extremely human. Never would have judged over what he might look like under his helmet, but I always kind of wondered. But let’s not talk about our comrades behind while they are not here, let me start talking about the mission instead. When the squad dropped in, they were met by a resistance fighter eager to help. A little bit of scouting from Kohlla and Collux revealed an Advent soldier, an Advent Me, and two Mutons. The Advent soldiers walked away, I guess they weren’t supposed to patrol in that direction, leaving the two Mutons, who didn’t stand much of a chance at all. After decimating the Mutons, the squad moved on ahead, which led them to three new Advent soldiers. Kohlla was hit pretty hard by one of the Advent soldiers, which was strange, because it implied he shot through two walls, but at least Jenny was there to heal her. Just as the skirmish was wrapping up, the previous group of Advent soldiers marched in. The remaining soldiers, and the mec, were killed, and the squad moved out, shooting nodes along the way. Sadly, the Commander thought the squad was in the clear, so the positions he ordered them to stop at caught the attention of not only another Advent soldier, but also a Sectoid Prime. Well, I honestly expected the Prime to be a threat, but, uhm, it died, in two hits, so yeah, pretty disappointing. The soldier didn’t stand much of a chance against a full squad, making the entire encounter really pitiful. Well, pretty big surprise when it came to the objective’s location. Inside the room were three Sectoids and an Andromedan Prime. One highlight of that battle was when ‘Pineapple’ blew the floor out from under the Andromedan, causing it to fall and squish one of the Sectoids. The Andromedan Prime died almost as fast as the Sectoid Prime, I guess people have been over-hyping them, because they don’t seem to be much of a threat. The transmitter was destroyed after that quick battle.  
The Commander decided that Collux and Natalya should be bond mates, and I’m really happy for him! Collux has been feeling kind of down recently, so I’m really hoping this will boost his spirits. We made contact with Western Asia in less than a single day, thanks to help from resistance operatives. After that, we headed out to help one of the resistance havens in hopes of increasing income. Research on cannons finished, not much to say there, it was some pretty boring stuff, powered armor research followed. Though, the Commander ordered it to be put on hold, at least long enough to allow one of the Shadow Projects to complete. After that we went back to helping the safe haven, only to hear a lead to the Black Market’s new location. While searching for the new location, the Covert Op bringing in the new Templar returned. The next operation the Commander ordered to be taken was just training, nothing of interest to me. It didn’t take long before the Black Market was located, meaning that Collux and I were able to take our shore leave there to find his sister, but more on that later. After locating the market, the Commander hired one of the soldiers they had, before moving on to helping that resistance haven. But before we could continue, the Council sent us one of their reports, and man were they pleased. Also, paychecks, yay! Kept up the work at the haven, and during that time, construction of the other SPARK finished.  
We kept helping the haven, but we were stopped by a mission from the Council. They wanted us to rescue a V.I.P. from an Advent vehicle, nothing too flashy. Though I hear the V.I.P. is supposed to be a scientist. I wish everyone luck.

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	60. Ep 59 - Operation Sky Child

**Ep 59-----Operation Sky Child------------------------------------------------------------**  
XCOM database  
Julians log  
log fifteen

A failure, of all the bloody things a failure! **takes simulated deep breath** Perhaps I should be more calm however as this is as best a minor setback. The mission itself theoretically went quite well. We cleared out all of the alien forces and were advancing towards the VIP fleshling, a scientist by trade although their name I cannot remember. Of course the elder's latest and greatest toy, the archon king showed up, and before we knew it, the VIP’s life was ripped from their form and they were left nothing but a bag of flesh on asphalt. What’s worse is the bastard got away alive though I swear to all when he comes back I will take pleasure in crushing him or watching him be crushed. It’s odd. I feel strangely angry. Our group suffered no casualties but the death of the VIP brings an odd fire of rage and hatred to my mechanical emotional suite. Perhaps it’s the useless waste of potential? The loss of what could have been work towards making me stronger? Or maybe I’m more invested in this world than I thought. or worse, it could be the reminder of Father. I wonder what he would think if he could see me now. I will take time to reflect.

Julian out.

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Personal Log #22, Major Jenny Fleet - February 29, 2036

Man, things go well, then things go bad. We are on the verge of wiping out the Chosen and we all seem to be on a roll. Then I get back from my covert operation with O'Neal to find out that the team had an encounter with the Archon King, and ended up failing their mission because a VIP they were supposed to pick up was killed during the battle.

Also, we have some new team members. I already met Crow, but we now have a new Ranger, nicknamed "Spice," who apparently had a really tough time on the last mission. We also have a new Spark. Called Yes Milk. There seems to be some inside joke about the name that people are still refusing to tell me about...

Personal Log #23, Major Jenny Fleet - March 7, 2036

The damn Hunter somehow was able to sabotage our current research into better armor and delayed it by a week. Given some of our recent battles, it sure seems like better armor would do us a lot of good.

In the meantime, I'm going out on another covert op with O'Neal to do some work with the Skirmishers. Once again the hacking expert gets called out for a job. If you need access to some computer somewhere, I'm your gal. This time I'm going to be gone for a week. I just hope that if a team goes out on a mission while I'm gone this time, it goes better than last time.

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Firebrand's personal log - March 9th 2036 (Entry #57)

Mission failed. But it wasn't just any failure. It was like ... something impossible to avoid. All thanks to the Archon King, who pretty much put the squad in a no-way-out situation. The VIP got killed in the process. It was like ADVENT knew where to send the Archon King for more damage to the Resistance. Just one of those Devastate missiles and it was all over. Regardless of the fact that the said Royalty left the AO with the proverbial tail behind its non-existent legs later ... It was just a devastating blow. Pun definitely not intended.

This impossible situation was more than just a coincidence. I've brought my concerns to Central. He doesn't know what to think. Briefly considered that I might be paranoid. I gave him a look that made him reconsider that path of thought. He gave me permission to talk to Shen, in order to send encrypted messages to the faction leaders. Either we have a mole on the Avenger ... or there is one in one of the factions. Maybe more than one? Central said he'd take care of the Avenger side of the story.

Shen sent out the messages. Whether Volk, Betos and Geist will take this notification for real or not, that's out of my hands. I did my part.

And speaking of my part ... time for another mission. Hacking an ADVENT computer station on a train. Hopefully the squad will shake off the disappointment from the last mission and get this one done. Just to send ADVENT a message: just because you beat us once, that doesn't mean we'll stop coming for you!

Firebrand out.

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26 February 2036

Dear Commander Odd,

Ever since my resignation from XCOM in August last year, I have continued to operate with the Chinese Resistance while staying abreast of your efforts to expand into the Asian continent. I wish our reunion could have happened under happier circumstances.

We are saddened to hear of the death of the scientist, Dr Chris Clay, during the attempt to rescue him in Beijing. The Chinese Resistance does not hold this failure against XCOM as no-one predicted the presence of the Archon King and its wanton destructiveness. Dr Clay was our double agent; working on weapons research within Advent and funneling updates on their technological developments to us. His subterfuge was completely unknown to them until the rescue attempt.

Now that Advent is aware of his prior contact with us, we have no choice but to withdraw for the time being in order to protect the network of agents that have worked with Dr Clay. Although we realise that this makes it harder for XCOM to contact us, we will continue to seek other opportunities to collaborate in the future.

I would also like to give my personal condolences for the loss of Scarlett ‘Reaper’ Barton. Despite the two of us starting off on the wrong footing last year, I understand that she had grown into loyal and dedicated soldier and is deeply missed by her comrades. I regret not getting to know her better.

I wish Col. Maja ‘Spice’ Jaworska and Maj. Connor ‘Eternal’ Magnusson a speedy recovery.

Sincerely,  
Your former Squaddie… Captain Lok ‘Jaws’ Peng.

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Damon Nights’ Audio Log: March 9th, 2035  
Slightly off topic from how I usually start these things off, but I want to record this just because. So last time I recorded a log I said that Collux and myself would be able to go on shore leave to visit the Black Market. Well, we weren’t able to, Collux was too busy training with his new bondmate, which wasn’t required, but apparently Natalya insisted on seeing her new compatriot’s skills, as well as wanting to show off her own. I’m also hearing some snide passing remarks of “Collux and Chill,” I have no idea what that is supposed to be a reference to, but if I find out it’s insulting, there will be hell to pay amongst the support staff. You know what? Why wait, I’m going to send a message to Shen and Tygan right now stating that all Avenger personal, staff and soldiers alike, should be required to go to an anti-discriminatory assembly sometime soon. Though I’m sure no one wants to hear me talk about that, you’re probably more interested in hearing about the mission. As for this new “you” I’m speaking of, it’s whoever is holding these recordings in the future, hopefully the far future. Now, to the mission. Rodats was sent to scout ahead, as was his specialty, finding an Archon Prime and an Advent Mec. Rodats moved up again, finding several Advent soldiers, two Vipers, and a Spectre this time around. A pretty big group, or maybe it was just multiple small groups all really close by to each other. Just like the last two, this Prime was killed with ease, nothing much else to say about them really, they just run around when they get hurt, they don’t attack or anything. It took awhile, but eventually everything died. After that, Rodats was sent ahead to do some more scouting and discovered not only three Archons, but also the Archon King. He was pretty badly wounded, so everyone was confident that he could have been killed off that day. Sadly, luck, was not on our side. God, the King charged in and set his little pinion things, and when they went off, all hell broke loose. Let me list you off everything that went wrong. Julian was shut down; the Templar ghost was almost killed, but nobody cared about it; our newest recruit Maja was disorientated and was also almost killed; and the V.I.P. actually was killed. The Council will probably be pretty pissed about this shitty turn of events, hell, we weren’t even able to kill the Ruler because it was able to run off. Let me tell you about what happened during the fight with the goddamn thing. So the first thing the Ruler did after blowing up everything was to grab poor Maja, pick her up into the air, and slamming her into the ground. Somehow the blow didn’t kill Maja, but it did leave her unconscious. The rest of the Archons were killed, and the squad was able to escape with their lives, but let’s face it, that mission was really terrible.  
God, I don’t know how, but only two people actually ended up wounded, I could have sworn more people were, but it was so chaotic I guess I miscounted. Damn, I didn’t realise what would happen through that failure, not only was income in that region reduced, but all contact we made with them was undone, whether through Advent interference, or just them being pissy, the cause is uncertain. After helping the two soldiers to the Infirmary, we went back to helping that one resistance base, and finally finished. I guess you could say we started to rebound, installing a relay tower in Australian resistance base. During that time the Shadow Chamber project finished, but for it to truly be “complete,” a Codex has to be skulljacked, which sounds like hell. The Covert operatives also came back from their training, allowing the Commander to send out another group to steal research on sniper rifles. Once the relay was finished we were able to make instant contact with Chile, with the help of the resistance fighters in the Australian haven, of course. We then did something that I’m pretty sure we’ve never done before, we stayed over at the base of one of the major resistance factions: the Reapers. Though during the week or so that we spent with the Reapers, the Chosen Hunter was able to sabotage our research on Powered Armor. The Covert operatives came back, and the next group was sent out to gain more intel. The Avatar project came pretty close to completion, which is pretty damn bad, but the Commander doesn’t seem all that concerned.  
We finished our week with the Reapers with a Guerrilla Ops mission. This new mission also had a scientist as a reward, as well as countering the “hidden” Black Event. I wish everyone the best of luck, if they needed it last time, they might need it now.

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Engineer Karson Delior

Log Date: March 9th, 2036

We saw the away team limping back from the most recent operation and all I can say is mère de Dieu. I took to reviewing Julian's camera feed to see what exactly happened down there and I was left both astonished and terrified at the same time. This "Archon King" obliterated its own truck in order to ensure the VIP couldn't be secured. From there it literally crushed Maja against the ground before descending upon the others. It's a miracle that Maja is still alive after taking a hit like that. A miracle any of them are alive to be completely honest. After taking a loss like that, morale took a minor dip but I doubt it will hinder us too much. Soon we'll have the psionic lab complete and be able to test our own soldiers for potential psionic capabilities to further our chances on the battlefield. On a more personal side note, I'm glad to see that Julian has been returning unharmed and he even seems to be improving with every mission he returns from.

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Derek Walters. Audio Log Entry 26: Kind of a mixed day. On one hand: Ruler is dead. On the other, so is the VIP. Everyone is frustrated, deflecting blame. I can practically hear them now: "Why didn't you lay down covering fire!?" "Why did you not watch the sight lines!" Upsetting, but not inexplicable. I've been thinking up a plan for the past few days to help in the final battle. But I don't want to talk about it now. I'm pretty sure either Julian or Bradford are listening. End Log

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War recount 55

This mission was a bust and I don't blame the Commander for it. If it wasn't for the Archon King showing up and eradicating the VIP off the face of the planet this would've been a routine mission. Maja had probably the most interesting introduction to XCOM when the Archon King in a show of power, picked her up and acted like this was a weird futuristic WWE slammed her into the ground hard enough to crack the ground. That wasn't the end of it though as due to the ground pound she was knocked unconscious and bombarded by the pinions the Archons drop. After the Archon King made the mission take a 180, the team still wasn't able to kill it and he got away but he was wounded and there will only be one more fight and then no more next times. The next mission deduced by Shen and Tygan is to skulljack a Codex because that's an easy thing to do, totally. We were able to set up a covert op with the Reapers but that was completed in the quickest time span ever for a covert op. We even had time to set up a second op with the Skirmishers which has yet to be completed. I talked to Pox a little more about the dreams and the only way he said he could get more was if I told the whole story, I don't know how he knew I was keeping something back. I'm not even sure about what I'm feeling, the only word I can put to it is different, I feel different towards Pharaoh. If I believed in it I'd call it love but that's just in the stories we tell ourselves to escape the world, the stories I used to write before the world went to hell. We were left with a lot of downtime so we went to the Reaper HQ to rest for a while, though I used my time to track down Khane and see him for a while. He may not be my favorite guy to talk to but I'm tired of the somber mood on the Avenger since the loss and we're all out of booze, meaning the only natural answer is to fake a social call to get wasted. Though Khane was really against the idea of heading down to the bar to hang out, insisting on other ways to hang out, most of which I'd already heard from rehab therapists to exes to family. We ended up eating a lot of candy and playing board games, not my way of spending my time but it was better than nothing and I heard the bar was restocked, might head down later and get myself messed up.  
Signing out  
Jebediah Primm


	61. Ep 60 - Operation Summoned Giant

**Ep 60-----Operation Summoned Giant--------------------------------------------------**  
Log 29: Zoey “Kohlla” Durand  
09/03/36  
\--- Post-Mission  
Well… things just keep getting worse. We hacked the Codex today. I hacked the Codex today. And it brought forth a being unimaginable even in my nightmares. A creature of immense Psionic power, puppeteered directly by one of the Elders. Made from those slaughtered at the Blacksite and refined for their DNA. And we killed it. We killed it without injury, but the cost was still great. It feels like almost every day we learn about the new terrors the Elders have created, their newest machination, monstrosity salvaged from humanity to try and destroy us. There were the Chosen, the Rulers, and now this. The Avatar. I only hope we end ADVENT’s invasion before they can spring yet another gruesome surprise on us.

As we deployed to the halted train, the cover of night was our ally. Almost immediately we met our enemy, two whole squads of aliens and their slaves. And I found my target. The Codex. Immediately I sprinted out from cover, and plunged the Skulljack deep into the Codex’ skull. It’s form spasmed and writhed around on the Skulljack’s blades, and with an eerie scream it exploded into nothingness. The sudden rush of psionic energy from the Codex’ dissipating form ran up into my mind, becoming focus energy, which I then loosed upon one of the Celatids nearest to me, dispatching it with Will’s assistance. My strike sheared into two halves, which then collapsed to the ground right as the hover chair that had once suspended the creature exploded beneath, turning it’s remains into a pile of scattered and charred flesh. The rest of our foes were dispatched with an onslaught of bullets, right as two more emerged from hiding - a Magma Viper and a second Codex. They however, were the least of our concern. Ever since skulljacking the first Codex I had felt a presence, a grand psionic presence, and yet had seen nothing, even as it drew closer. At first, I dismissed it as residual psionic power from the Codex’ destruction, but was horrified to find the truth of what the source was. The Avatar had arrived. The Elders, had arrived.

Julian struck the creature’s form with a hail of bullets, prompting it to teleport across the battlefield. The ADVENT Defector on our team then lanced it with a missile, and just like fighting the Hunter, the battle became a game of cat and mouse. Julian lanced out another volley of shots, and then, it was my turn. My target was in sight, and my blades thirsted for battle. Within mere seconds, I charged across the bridge, and drove both of my blades deep into the Avatar’s flesh. It recoiled back, silently, bleeding it’s orange blood all over my blades. The creature looked to me, from behind it’s featureless faceplate. It didn’t need to say anything, or show any expression, for me to know it’s thoughts. For me to know the thoughts of the Elder piloting it. Behind the creature, an apparition of psionic energy emerged, twisting into the shape of an Elder. I could feel it’s pain, but also it’s surprise. It had been wounded - something it had never experienced before in it’s life. The only suffering it had known was the suffering of running an empire, and for the first time in its existence; it felt pain. For the last time in its existence; it felt pain. And then, just like the Codex before it, the Elder exploded in a burst of psionic power, that I quickly harnessed into Focus energy.

During the chaos, my allies had dispatched more of our foes, and I managed to join in just in time to contribute to the onslaught. Unfortunately, our efforts weren’t enough to stop one of the Elder’s dogs slipping through and killing the civilian operative that joined us. I felt my rage swell at the thought of losing yet another at ADVENT’s hands, and raced back over the bridge to try and help my allies. One final squad remained - with a Sectopod Prime amongst its ranks, and to make sure that there was no way it could escape, I conjured my energies into the form of a Ghost. Sharing my hatred and my intention, the the Ghost rushed forth, slashing deep into the chassis of one of the MECs. Unfortunately, my Ghost was destroyed moments later, defeated by the remaining ADVENT trooper. Doc avenged it’s death, and now all that was left in our path was the Sectopod Prime. We eviscerated it with a storm of gunfire, though in the midst of the battle, Celly was killed; A minor loss however, as Celly can always be rebuilt. With one final shot, Blazkivitz placed his round deep into an exposed chink in the Sectopod’s armour, striking a vital weakpoint that caused the entire thing to erupt in explosive fire. Our job done, we returned to the Skyranger, but it wasn’t until I got to my quarters that I began to weep not only for my fallen comrade, but also at the furthering of the Elder’s plots.

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Journal Entry 31#   
Name: Will 'Billy-Terror' Blazkivitz   
Date: 9th March 2036   
Operation: Summoned Giant

I guess after the last running ruler fucked up the last mission he wasn't going to be pulling punches, sending both me and my main girl out there to tear up shit. Even get a snazzy new scope for my rifle and some prime snake leather get up. I look rather dashing for my date out on the town with Kohlla wouldn't you say? Well, sadly not able to mix business with pleasure, fucking protocol. We're working with Doc, Numbers, Eternal and we have the walking tinker toy once again, joy.  
When we drop down we find an onsight informant, however, we find not one but two guys on the ground this time, a resistance fighter named Marcar working with a Skirmisher Demolitionist Spy. What a bonus. 

With boots on the ground, we find a couple patrols near the objective, a Codex with two Celatid Adults then on top of the train was an ADVENT Lancer, Purifier and duelist by a defence turret. The Codex was actually a side objective we needed and Kohlla had the means to skull jack it. So with that said we played it cool and waited for the right time, it came soon as the ADVENT patrol jumped off the other side of the train while the alien patrol came to us. It was time to strike as I set my sights on both Celatids.

My partner charges right up to the surprised Codex before thrusting that digital wrist spike right under its chin, after accessing the data it fell over and Kohlla turned towards the train suddenly with a look of... utter shock like she saw an oncoming storm on the horizon or some shit. Either way, we had Aliens to deal with and Kohlla got herself back in the game. I start by shooting the Celatid in the back my first shot hitting true and like some awesome B-movie scene, my second shot goes right through the second Celatid as Kohlla slices it right in half, I even had the cheesy one-liner, “Not much personality in these guys, makes them easy to squish.”

Eternal and Numbers though ignore my “Grade A Mozzarella” as they turn their attention to two turrets bearing down on Kohlla now, Numbers shuts one turret down with his GREMLIN while Eternal blows up the other with his rocket. Meanwhile, Doc runs up and guns down the wounded Celatid. The rest of the squad keep put for Overwatch since we had so many threats nearby. The Demo Spy spots another Codex with an Inferno Viper and with a shot of his mag rifle forces them into cover but then something weird showed it's covered face. Some new Alien hybrid guy and this thing had the ghost of an Elder by it at all times. I guess this was the person who put my partner on edge. Well, I said no to that crap as I gave the bastard a plasma shot but as I hit he teleported away, just like the Hunter. So that's the thing that taught him that bullshit, fan-fucking-tastic.

Doc and the Demo Spy blow up the freak a couple times as SPARKY laid down heavy fire making the bastard bounce around before Kohlla did the honours by chasing it down and cut off his head. I saw the freak explode with psi energy crap but we didn't have time to worry about that. First Eternal flanks the Codex and puts it down with one plasma shotgun blast then I spy Numbers tossing out our turret to shoot at the disabled turret, I, give it a hand by finishing it off before it had a chance to wake up. I spy the Inferno Viper run off taking a shot from our turret and I'm guessing she's off to warn the nearby patrol, well in that case we wait and set up a trap.

They come in hot with most of the team laying down fire but only half hit and we manage to take down the ADVENT Purifier, the Lancer at this point charges towards it and after taking a quick swipe from Eternal, the bastard zaps Marcar our resistance contact and kills him. Oh, I could tell Zoey was pissed because I felt the same way. Eternal though goes on a mini-rampage by first gunning down the Lancer and with some warning from Numbers the Ranger charges at the duelist before cutting him down. Doc at this point comes in with the assist and sprays enough plasma fire to kill the Inferno Viper. 

Those done and dusted, Numbers gets his GREMLIN to hack not only the objective but a nearby terminal detailing a small cache of Alien alloys, hell we'll take a bonus any day. With the objective sorted we had to search and destroy any remaining hostiles, boy did we get a nasty surprise. The turret scouts ahead find another ADVENT Lancer, a Heavy MEC but worst of all a Sectopod Prime. I wish these things didn't hide from the Shadowchamber!

Well no time to dwell on that as I open with the first shot on the Heavy MEC seriously crippling the thing, Kohlla comes in with an assist by summoning her ghost and making it charge the MEC destroying it with a slash. The body of energy would play a nice distraction as well. The rest of the team decide to not simply walk up to get shot by this thing that reacts to our gunfire so quickly so they decide to set up an overwatch trap. I spy the Secto Prime firing on the ghost but issues all it's shots before the Lancer decides to charge in killing our distraction but not before taking a psi-blade slash to the torso area.

Doc sends a response by gunning down the Lancer as the turret pulls back to lure in the Secto Prime into our trap. I swear these things are learning as it dodges half our shots while the other half plink away at the bastard. We find out that this thing was stuck behind a steel bridge, ADVENT city designs helping us at our time of need as it couldn't get any closer! The turret takes a couple shots before going down, unfortunately.

At this point, our tinman battle plan sets up by charging up and takes a shot that hits the Secto Prime, said Prime fires back but SPANKY just stands there taking a full on attack but comes out without a scratch. Shen must've done some serious work as the Scrap Iron Scarecrow fires his shredstorm cannon at the Secto Prime before dodging some returning fire. Meanwhile, I spy a nice hole in it's armour and after taking a moment to adjust my aim I let lose a shot that caused the big fuck to explode. It was down and the area was clear for pick up.

Too bad about Marcar but I saw the Skirmisher Spy pick up his dog tags, he mentioned about giving them to the local resistance branch before he'd head off to the Skirmishers since it was now too dangerous to stay in the city. Makes sense, we bid him farewell before we set off on Firebrand back to the Avenger.

When we got back I was promoted to the same rank of my partner, finally, but first thing as a Colonial was not assessing... anything important. I had to go through god damn therapy on the medical deck. I almost out right refused telling them I can deal with my shit but Kohlla suggested otherwise in case I'd lose it during an important mission. As reluctant as I was... I complied. Guess a bit of talking won't do much harm, I'm good at talking after all. Anyway, time for my session of the day, signing off.

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XCOM database  
Julians logs  
log sixteen

Another mission, and with a team of some of the fleshlings i respect the most of all nonetheless, could I get more lucky? Yes, but that would be shown on the mission ahead. Today’s mission was to hack a console in a main city area, and possibly skulljack the scientific data marvel that was the codex, an AI similar to myself. We dropped on a local city street, where we were joined by the same demolitionist who aided the forge team and a civilian, only one of whom would make it out alive. But that’s for the ending. We crept along the city's back alleys and streets without resistance at first, that is till the fleshling Magnusson found the two patrols. one consisted of Advent soldiers and the other of several of the disgusting celatids. Lucky for us however, we remained unseen. Now was the time to strike. The stage was set and Kohlla charged in for the skulljack, as always her aim was true, and the mix of flesh and psionics drove her powerful weapon into the digital cursed child’s mind banks forcing it to yield the information we so desired before dropping it to the ground deader than a block of wood. The attack of course provoked, something, to appear, but we would know that later. At the time the fleshlings (I hadn’t fired a shot, annoyingly) were more focused on the celatids which were being slain by a mix of the savage Kohlla’s bladestorm and the chatterbox's sniper fire, much to our satisfaction. Sadly the attack lit up the whole area, and along with the turrets wed have company soon, though a lucky shot shut down one of the turrets with rockets and the other celatid with weapons fire. It was then I moved up. Then we waited in silence for them to come. And come they did. With a codex and a horror from the fleshlings darkest dreams. This was the elders avatar, their darkest dream and what was supposed to destroy our resistance. I was going to enjoy killing this thing. But seeing it for real? It chilled my systems. For I knew its suit well, made from a version of mech armor that was more light weight that i constructed during advents service and designed into a suit. But that didn't matter. It would die like the rest, if we could destroy this pinnacle, then the elders would know we meant business. From there we hit it with all we had, a grenade and sniper shot first, both equally effective. Then I got my chance and waste it I did not, while I only got one shot, I shredded its health and armor and softened it up to fall further towards the gate of death. It was weak and of flesh and I would crush it with my team. And no sooner did I wish for another chance then I got it, a second shot destroying the creature’s health and the templar’s blade slicing the elder’s masterpiece into pulp. I never have felt so alive! Magnusson must have shared the sentiment as he destroyed with one shot the remaining codex, while the second turret was finished off by chatterbox and the one they call Celly. We were not out of the woods yet however, there were still groups left on scans. We were met by the soldier group, but missed most of our first volley though I myself got a kill worthy of my perfection on the purifier. But our happy streak would not last, as a single rogue lancer slipped through our fire, and killed our civilian contact, needless to say he signed his death warrant then and there as Magnusson was more than happy to show with his shotgun to the face and a slash to the next soldier would drive the point home. All seemed gone, but it seemed another group remained, though the time was lifted as the fleshling specialist secured the data with ease. A quick turret scout and there they were, not Advent’s best, but near it. A sectopod prime, a mec parody of me, and a soldier. At that moment i wondered if my team would make it out alive. Of course they would though I thought, I wouldn't be able to call myself perfect if they didn't, so I steeled my resolve and focused. The chatterbox acted first, brightening the commanders morale and destroying most of the parody and the Templar went so far as to summon a specter phenomena. That very ghost proceeded to wipe out the parody and harm the soldier heavily, though it was sadly wiped out moments later by a lucky lancer shot. The good doctor finished the job on the soldier leaving the sectopod as the lone player. Sadly, I and Magnusson missed our opening volley. Though ironically this menacing beast was stuck behind the bridge. And we lost the turret in the process. Then came my turn. I was able to open fire and damage its armor but it blasted away most of my shields. From there, the chatterbox brought it to its knees and ended a successful mission

Julian out till later, I must recharge and consult for shields

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Firebrand's personal log - March 16th 2036 (Entry #58)

Oh. My. God. That roast pork. That was so ... Oh my God. It was better than ... than ... (suddenly clears voice) Oh, you guys know what I was going to say so you can just say it for me. Then you can go and take a cold shower. I already did.

Also ... Talk about sending a message to ADVENT. The team took down some new creature ... something that looked dangerous, even if it didn't manage to do anything than pop around every time it got wounded. But it has to be something very big. I mean, hacking the Codex triggered it. Central told me the Spokesman sounded very excited about it. As excited as that man can sound. Which means ADVENT aren't having a party right about now. Even though we lost a Resistance member that came to the mission to help us. Damned Stunnies ...

Oh, and that Overreactive Sectopod. It was rather funny how it got stuck behind that bridge. I mean, it did take down our Turret. But then BJ just took it to the cleaners from downtown. Great mission really.

New facility functioning now down below. A Psionic Laboratory. And it seems our first Psionic Operative will be a ... Templar. Fitting enough, I suppose. They're already accustomed to the power, so it should be easier for ... I'll just call her Shadowscythe, because I don't honestly know how to pronounce her first name. Or her callsign. Besides, Shadowscythe sounds pretty damn amazing.

Well ... would you look at that? Seems the aliens lost control of a UFO. And the team is going to raid it. No ... no more pork. I actually want to be all focused on what I'm doing. Plus there's no shower on the Ranger. Pity, they should install one.

Anyway ... let's roll out.

Firebrand out.

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Personal Log #24, Major Jenny Fleet - March 15, 2036

I'm back from my latest covert op, and thankfully unlike last time, it sounds like the guys went out and had a pretty good mission. Unfortunately a resistance contact who had joined them got killed in the process, but no one on our team was even injured, so that's great. Not only that, but after they skulljacked a Codex a...thing warped in. It jumped around every time it got hit too, much like the Hunter does, but luckily the team was able to kill whatever it was before it could do anything.

I also have to admit, I'm a bit torn. I have to congratulate Numbers on his promotion, and he's a friend, being a fellow specialist, but I just feel like I'm being left behind. I feel like the fact that I've gone out on a couple covert ops recently may demonstrates this. "We don't need you on missions anymore, so go out here and do some hacking for us on this covert op mission."

With recruiting a new Colonel specialist, with Huntsman being promoted to Colonel, with Numbers being promoted to Major, and with the Commander seemingly choosing Huntsman and Numbers over me most of the time if there is a choice as it is, I just have to wonder how much more I can expect to go out. I hope my hacking ability will maybe catch the Commander's eye for future missions.

I even looked up the numbers. Since I was promoted to Major on October 23rd, I've gone out on three missions. Granted I was injured for two weeks and in the medbay for therapy for another week. But still. Since then Huntsman has been out on seven missions and Numbers has been out on eight missions, despite being lower ranked than I am. Both Huntsman and Numbers have been promoted twice since my last promotion.

At first I thought it might be in my head or might just me being anxious to go out, but the numbers are there. The Commander just doesn't seem to think I'm useful anymore, unless he just takes a inkling to send me out on a mission sometime, which seems to be less and less often now.

Maybe buddying up with Thunder will help, but I've also heard that he's been trying to take fewer Colonels out so he can train lower ranked people (which I would like to think includes me). He also likes Numbers because he's bonded with Eternal and I'm not bonded with anyone, but to be honest I've felt that this has been going on even before that.

But like I said, I'm torn. I like everyone here, and I want to be part of the team. I don't want to rock any boats, and I feel bad for being jealous that they're getting so much action while I've just been sitting here. It's just I hate just sitting here.

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Damon Nights’ Audio Log: March 16th, 2036  
Alright, so the last mission was the, Guerilla Ops I think. I don’t have any before mission news, so I guess I’ll jump right in. Upon arrival, the squad was met by an unlikely duo a human resistance member, and their friend, an Advent demolitionist. It’s good to see that not every single one of us are bigoted racists. ‘Eternal’ was sent ahead to do some scouting, and he was able to find a few Advent soldiers and some Aliens, one of which was a Codex, which we’ve been looking for. Kohlla was sent in to skulljack the Codex, killing it in the process, but once it died some new Alien no one has seen before appeared, though according to Tygan, it is actually one of the Elder’s Avatars. I don’t know if these things are supposed to be scary, I think some of the Primes put up more of a fight than this Avatar. Without the help of the Elder’s new baddy, and with the squad’s newfound confidence, the rest of the nearby enemies were wiped out. Well, not with ease, I’m afraid to say the AHAB’s friend was killed off by an Advent Stun Lancer. I can only imagine how the survivor must be feeling. As disgusted as I was by the Commander’s lack of respect and/or concern about the deaths of his soldiers, I’ve gotten over it. I just try not to let the guy get to me, and carry on. The workstation was hacked without much resistance, allowing the squad to go around and wipe out the remaining enemy forces.  
Glad to say that this “Avatar’s” death has set the Avatar Project back some, putting a dent into the Elders’ plans. At least we have a new Scientist, but I don’t like the mentality that some of the higher ups share, saying that this new guy is just a replacement for the Scientist we lost. We shouldn’t consider people “replaceable,” that just sounds like a terrible mentality to have. We went to the Black Market again, going to have to ask Collux if we should take some shore leave there. Made another “instant” contact, this time with the resistance haven in southern Africa. After that we went to this crash site that had some goodies we could pick up. While searching for loot, the Psi Lab finished construction, don’t know who we’re supposed to train there though, we don’t have any Rookies, or is it Squaddies? I take that back, apparently the Commander did have someone in mind, some new recruit he picked up from the local resistance haven. It didn’t take much longer to find the loot we were promised, though it wasn’t anything too special. After retrieving what we were looking for, the Avenger was then steered towards someone who is supposed to be able to help us find another resistance haven, reducing the amount of intel we would need to spend. Didn’t take long for the Covert operatives to return with some intel, Collux was sent on the next mission, which is supposed to get us an upgrade, or at least the means to upgrade, Assault Rifles.  
Almost as soon as contact was being made with this new “helper,” we were given the location of a crashed UFO. Central and the Commander considered this a top priority, realizing we need to take advantage of any supplies, intel, or loot we could gain from this unfortunate accident. I wish everyone luck, and I hope they bring us back something interesting.

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Derek Walters. Audio Log Entry 27: What was that thing? Is this the AVATAR? They weren't kidding when they said that this thing would bring about the end of XCOM. This creature could probably level a city with that kind of power! As for the update on my plan, I've been practicing in the range for a while now. Trying to build up my accuracy and skills. Julian is probably on to me. I might abstain from these logs for a while. Want to maintain secrecy. End Log

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War recount 56

The team did in fact finish the additional objective of skulljacking a Codex as crazy as it sounds. It spawned something in behind the train but it was apparent that something was there when a giant flash of purple light came from its origin point. We did have both a Skirmisher and a refugee come to aid the team, which made the Commander really happy. The two were apparently good friends and worked together at a local resistance shanty, which makes it pull on the heartstrings even more with the fact that in one swipe a Stun lancer was able to kill the refugee. I didn't get a chance to meet the AHAB and ask where he'd like to be sent but word is is that he went back to his shanty sadly not with his friend. A Sectopod Prime showed up without warning as they usually do but was so held back marveling at the amazing construction that Advent puts into their bridges. The worst it could do was destroy Celley for the mission but that was about it. We finished up a covert op with the Skirmishers and moved on to an op with the Templars. It's been so awkward with Pharaoh recently, I just don't know what to say, it's like I'm a 13 year old with a crush that's so far out of my league. The weirdest part is that I've never even met Pharaoh before and I initially hated her and her stick up her ass personality but now it's gone and all that's left is a person I can't describe my feelings for, jeez I need to move on to another topic. The Psi Lab was finished and a soldier that apparently has been here for awhile unnoticed has been chosen, Xenehx and that's a name I won't even act like I know how to say. The Commander and Bradford have just made a mission to attack a landed UFO and have made it essential, the Commander looks like a kid on Christmas right now with the look he's giving everyone right now.  
Signing out  
Jebediah Primm

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ADVENT Elite Demolitionist, Subject AG91189

I never expected to be working with one of the armed civilians hailing from one of the nearby resistance camps. Going by the name of Macar Phillips, he initially mistook me as a hostility rather an a defected ally, but the moment I raised my arms up to surrender, he seemed to have understood. Both of us made our way to XCOM's landing site on foot, and managed to hide ourselves from the patrols of troops and beasts walking around the area. There wasn't any chatter between us, provided he needed to hide away while I went incognito as a patrol unit.

Once XCOM arrived, it was all a matter of meeting them and forgetting the fact I was once a member of ADVENT, because I knew damn well to myself that my identity is something else. Initially this Commander they spoke of in XCOM seemingly had a bad ire against me, since he was keen on sending me to the front line of the action. I know trust isn't something I'll easily building among the soldiers of the resistance or XCOM alike, but in my perspective this seemed a little unnerving. But a commander must prioritize his men first, and quite sadly, I realized that maybe I'm being unreasonable by implying that XCOM's Commander should've simply chosen another one of his own soldiers to tank whatever my former allies chose to throw at them.

I partly blame myself for not being able to recognized the orders of the higher-ups to use the Sectopod Prime for this site. I could've used this information to tell the resistance factions or the XCOM to expect a bigger threat should they chose to infiltrate this site. But alas, regrets are in the end, since XCOM managed to not only gain access to the Elders' plans, but they also managed to call the attention of this so-called Avatar, whom promptly appeared in the battlefield, only to get completely killed by XCOM's impressive offensive capabilities. This "BillyTerror" figure is certainly imposing as well, given how he was able to take the Sectopod Prime down from a very far distance.

I for one was glad that I was at least able to help XCOM in this situation, even if it barely made a dent against my former allies in comparison to their current arsenal of weaponry. I bet some of my former allies have already complained to the higher-ups about our lacking in weaponry. Heh. Our current weapons look very primitive in comparison to XCOM's gear, and I was glad I wasn't on the receiving end of it. Especially of that strange little turret XCOM deployed, which seemed to have unforgiving accuracy.

Overall, the mission was success, and XCOM offered me a chance, and a drop off, to one of their bases in order for me to make contact with the resistance faction made up of defected ADVENT servants, like myself, called the Skirmishers. I politely declined their offer and simply stated my wish to drop me off in the nearby wilderness where I could simply state regaining my thoughts and simply recollect myself. I was lucky enough that that had no intent to force nor did they try to persuade me any further.

I hope for the best for XCOM, and that they win the world for humanity once more.

Signing off.

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Damon Nights’ [Secret] Audio/Video Log: March 9th, 2036  
Collux gathered his thoughts. He may well be meeting his sister at some point soon. He was excited, but pessimistic. What would she say to him? What would she think of him? He wasn't sure, but at least she might know who he is, so she might find some closure. He made sure he had the metal bookmark with the strange symbol on it as well as the recording of his attempt on her life. Then there was a knock at the door. "Who is that?" Collux asked himself as he made sure his helmet was on and went over to open his door. "Who is it?" Collux said before he opened the door, thinking it could be someone that may attack him.  
A recognizable figures stands in the door frame. "It's me, Damon. May I come inside?" Above his left shoulder floats the GREMLIN unit formally known as VLP-N. "Oh yeah, I hope you don't mind, but Ana insisted on coming with us."  
"I... Yeah sure. Thank you for bringing me some meals. I didn't know what to do with myself after the loss of Scarlet. I'm sorry that I've not been much of a friend.  
Damon sets a hand on Collux's shoulder. "Hey man, it's fine, I know you were going through some tough times, and we all grieve differently. For example, I, and many others on the Avenger, drink when we want to forget, or to dull the pain of loss. Probably not the best tactic, but it helps. Though Ana has been forcing me to go to the Avenger's AA lately, she's worried I might have a problem, but enough about that..." Damon removes his hand from Collux's shoulder before it starts to get awkward. "...there has been at least some good news, right? I hear you got a new bond mate, Vintermorgon, wasn't it? How's that going?"  
"Ah yes, Vintermorgen..." Collux pauses a little, remembering the event. In fact he felt quite strongly about being paired with Vintermorgen. He was unsure if she felt the same though. Collux guessed that, from the old movies he and Damon had watched, he could say that he "liked" her, just like Kohlla liked Rumble. But he always thought that she might never feel the same way or that she'd "like" someone else. She was the only other Advent soldier in XCom for quite a while until she "died" and then Beast showed up. Now he thought about it, she'd probably prefer Beast because he was handsome, better in battle and they talked more. "From what I remember we've only talked once, maybe twice. It's a little strange actually, we're both former Advent soldiers but we've never actually talked much. We should probably talk at some point... I suppose... maybe... If she wants to of course..." He tails off into a slight mumble, then out of the blue Collux asked Damon a strange question. "Am I not the only XCom soldier to lose a partner?"  
Damon pauses to think. "Hmm, I think Jenny lost her partner." Damon goes silent again, racking his memory. "I swear someone else did, but I can't remember who. Sorry 'bout that mate, but, uh, if you don't mind me asking, why were you wondering?"  
"It doesn't matter, Perhaps the curse the Elders put on me must surely be wearing off by now. Anyway, you came to me Officer, can I help you?"  
Damon looks confused for a second, but shrugs. "If you're sure you don't want to talk about it now, we don't have to." His face brightens up into a small smile. "But yeah, you can help me. If the rumors are to be believed, I hear we're headed towards the Black Market, should be arriving there at around, 10PM tonight." Damon glances at his at his wrist, before remembering he doesn't own a watch. "Erm, you don't happen to know what time it is, do you?"  
"It's nearly 10PM now." Then what Damon said actually hit him. "Wait! What? We're... we're going to the Black Market!?" Collux said surprised.  
Damon's grin widens. "Yep, you just have to check in with the Commander or Central, and I need to check in with Shen, to requisition a shore leave pass. You need to put in a few days of work to actually earn a pass, but I think we've more than done that. We should probably hurry if it's coming up on ten then, sure we'll be staying for a few hours, but we want to get a early start. Shall we go together to get the passes, or split up? Either way is fine with me."  
"Let's go together. We can make it seem like you need to go into the Market to look through some blueprints and find some parts to upgrade things on the ship and I can be your bodyguard. How does that sound? And let's be fair, that's pretty much what we'll look like anyway. Although we might look like an Advent slave and his 'master'. I've heard they've been doing that in Russia, I think."  
"Hmm, as long as we keep our XCOM badges shown, I doubt people will make that mistake, but that is a pretty disturbing rumor to hear. Let me grab some money, might as well grab something while we're at it. Want me to spot you some, or do you have your own money? I don't mind lending you money if that's the case, I got plenty from my paychecks, hell, don't even worry about paying me back, think of it as a gift."  
As they exited the room and walked down the corridor towards Centrals and Shen's office talking about pay. "Wait, you get paid?"  
"Yeah, all the support staff does. It's a 'monthly' thing, so every time we pick up our supply drop, the support staff gets a small percentage of the funds in the form of a paycheck. I've heard that you soldiers get paid at the end of your service, or if you die, all the money you had collected gets sent to next of kin. I believe if you ask, you can withdraw a portion of your money." Damon thinks for a moment. "I don't know what determines the amount you get paid, it might just be by months of active service."  
"I was unaware about being paid. I joined up because I wanted to overthrow my masters who made me kill my family. I noticed that all the soldiers get called over at the end of a month, but my name never comes up. I just thought it was loved ones sending them gifts or something..." They walked passed Vintermorgen's quarters and Collux stops, only for a split second to glance at the door, and then steps back into pace with Damon. Nah, she wouldn't go for him. "So what do you usually buy with your pay?"  
"I haven't really spent it on anything yet. There is a 3D clothes printer around here, you can pay to print off any kind of clothing you like. I created some stuff there once. Really I've just been saving up for after we beat the Elders. Even then I don't know what I'll spend it on, or whether I'll even stop working for XCOM. And I didn't join for the pay either, to be honest, I wanted to join as a Specialist, maybe get the chance to kill a few Aliens to avenge my colleagues, but I didn't have any combat training, so the Commander assigned me to be an Engineer." Damon's face doesn't show any regret at being denied the position he wanted so badly. He glances over at Collux, with a sly grin on his face. "If you want, I can try to find a good time for you and Natalya to talk, be your wingman, sort of. How does that sound?"   
"Huh? What!?" Collux had not felt this emotion before, but he recognized it as embarrassment. However Damon had noticed too. "I... well... er... When were we talking about Major Vintermorgen? I thought we were talking about getting paid..." He tailed off, that was a weak line. He needed to change the subject, and fast! Thankfully the distraction came in the form of the mess hall. "I'm feeling a bit hungry, why don't we grab a meal before we go upstairs, huh?"  
Damon keeps the grin up while they walk, but he also taps his ear. "When you spend a lifetime of tinkering, you get used to hearing tiny noises, you can get used to hearing a problem before you see it. I heard you got off pace a while back. But hey, it's no big deal, I'll drop it if you want. And yeah, sure, let's go get something to eat."  
"Let's um... talk about something else..." Collux stammers as they enter the mess hall. Collux piles his plate high with Rodat's and Mr. Bavaria's specially cooked food, mostly duck and pork, and they sit at a table. Damon grabs them both a beer and sits down opposite him. "Her deep blue eyes are amazing, have you seen them? And the way she handles her Bullpup and Ripjack, I admire very much." Collux mumbled to himself, then he realized that he was talking out loud. "Sorry." He said and then told himself "Inside voice! INSIDE VOICE!" as he stuffed as much meat into his mouth as he could manage and just engorged himself on his meal.  
Damon's grin widens into a full smile. "Mate, it sounds like you're smitten by her. My offer still stands though, if you want me to set something up for you two I can." Damon walks back up to the counter and grabs himself some of Mr. Bavaria's legendary roast. He starts eating, but still with that somewhat annoying grin on his face. "But I can see you don't want to discuss that right now. Shall we plan out what we're going to do upon arrival?"  
"I guess I should talk to her at some point, but I mean, I probably don't have a chance with Beast around anyway. I've seen then talking... at least once or twice, so I... Let's forget it. I'm supposed to be seeing my sister today and all I can talk about is Chill." They sit quietly while they eat their food and after a few more platefuls of roast duck for Collux, and Damon's only one plateful, they were done. A few minutes they found themselves knocking on Central's office door. "Come in." Comes a voice from the other side of the door, the dulcet tones of Bradford's voice.  
"Hello sir, we're here to request some passes for shore leave to the Black Market today." Bradford raises an eyebrow. "Don't you report to Officer Shen?" "Yes sir, we're here to pick up Collux's pass first." Bradford shrugs and looks towards Collux. "I don't see any reason why he can't have a pass, he's been a long standing member of XCOM, and it's the least I can do for him for all he's done to me." Bradford rummages through a drawer in his desk. Finally pulling out a slip of paper, signing it at the bottom. Still looking at Collux he says. "Just sign here, as long as you get this slip stamped upon entry and exit of the Avenger for any non-mission purposes, you should be fine. And Officer Nights." Damon jumps slightly at the sudden mention of his name. "Yes sir?" Bradford turns to look at Damon this time. "Could you please tell your confounded GREMLIN to stop hovering over this classified paperwork? You already have one strike with me." Damon glances at Ana. "Yes sir, sorry about that." Bradford looks appeased. "In that case, you're both dismissed, go enjoy, whatever it is you are doing."  
"Yes sir, thank you sir. This is more of an escort mission. Hopefully we'll be meeting up with a former contact of Vahlen's." As soon as Collux had said that name, Bradford became wide eyed and eager. As they were about to leave he called back to them. "Hold on fellas. Officer Nights, did you know anyone that worked with Dr Vahlen?"  
"Er, yes sir, one of my former colleagues, Ana Stein, worked for Vahlen for what I assume was several years. She was highly skilled in the technological fields, specifically biotech implants, which may explain why Vahlen's creations were so highly, mechanically augmented. But I'm afraid she died just a few, days, I think, before we found Vahlen's research facility. But some good news is that Collux was able to recover a flash drive containing the majority of her research, as well as several audio/visual logs pertaining to her work."  
"But we're trying to keep it discreet, sir, we don't want to spook them." Collux mentioned hastily. "That makes sense." Bradford replied. He reached under his desk and produced another slip of paper and signs it. "This is another pass, you won't need to bother Shen with this, but if you find anything out, let us know. Let's hope we don't... Look Officer Nights, get that Gremlin out of here! You have your orders people."  
"Yes sir, thank you very much sir." Damon reaches over to Ana and bats her away from Bradford. He mutters under his breath. "What the heck has gotten into you?"  
They exit the office quickly and make a beeline for the Avenger's hanger and from there the doors. "Okay, I can do this. I can do this... right?" Collux turns to Damon "Right?"  
Damon gives Collux an encouraging smile, and pats him on the back. "I'm completely confident that you can do this. Now come on, we don't want to be too late, the first group leaves pretty soon, if they haven't left already, it's almost 10:30PM."  
Collux nods. "Thank you. Right, let's go." They make their way through to the ship and over to the troop transport where their papers were stamped and they climbed on board to take the flight to an undisclosed location. Flying through a winter wasteland in the dark, they could still see the sparse trees in the vicinity by the moonlight, but they couldn't make out much. As they get close enough to the coordinates some lights illuminated the ship then a patch of snow covered earth just beneath the ship. A camouflaged hole in the ground opened up directly underneath the ship to reveal an underground hanger where the aircraft could land. There wasn't enough room for the Avenger, but it had ample space for a few helicopters and some Firebrand aircraft too. The pilot flew the ship down into the hanger and landed on the illuminated landing pad. As they landed the ceiling hatch closed up, making the landscape above whole again. The ship touches down and the pilot speaker clicks on with a little static. "Okay people we have an hour to get everything done, so let's get going."  
Damon looks up at the ceiling hatch with a little unease. "Huh, so this is where the current Black Market is. Kind of creepy, but I can understand the need for secrecy. Where shall we start our search?"  
Collux nods. "We don't have long." Some of the other people in the aircraft made their way out of the hanger and down the path that went deeper underground. After a few minutes they went through two sets of double doors and down a lift. The lift opened up into a huge hallway, probably the same size as a few UK football stadiums. They made their way down the stairs and into the vibrant market, reminiscent of a Bazaar from Egypt or even a fairground. As they worked their way around the huge facility the guards bristled as Collux walked by, but they didn't do anything. They knew Skirmishers frequently visited and they usually brought with them valuable intel and resources especially if they were from advanced Advent stock. They saw a bunch of Templars retracing their daily routine in a Tai-Chi like sequence and some Reapers barbecuing some kind of meat that did not look edible. They were approached by lots of different vendors and salesmen, but they rejected them and went deeper into the maze of stalls.  
Damon looks at every stall in awe. "I never believed that this place would be so massive! I just hope we can find our way back out again." He looks around their current location for a bit. "Huh, there doesn't seem to be any sort of map around here, how are we supposed to know where to go?" Damon stops a passing guard. "Excuse me sir or madam, do you happen to know where we could find Amy Woodget?"  
The guard frowns at Damon, and looks Collux up and down. "That's Captain James Stark to you. You do mean the Black Market's overseer, right?" Both men stood wide eyed and stared back at the guard. "Wow... tourists, and they had to talk to me didn't they." He looks over his shoulder. "Yuri, take these guys up to the main office, then you can get off, Donna is going to be relieving you in 5, so I'll see you in a few." He turned back to Collux and Damon "Squaddie Yuri Gilev will take you up to her, if she has time for you of course."  
Damon stares at the man for a few seconds longer before shaking his head to focus. "Er, thank you very much sir." He turns to Yuri. "Please, lead the way." Damon turns back over to face Collux and whispers. "Damn, when Ana told us your sister was a member of the Black Market, I never considered the fact that she might be the overseer of this operation."  
Collux shrugged. "It's like I don't know her anymore... I guess we'll see." Squaddie Gilev lead them through to the other side of the market where there were a few offices were and at the back of them were two guards beside a door. "Oi Squaddie, what are you doing here?" One of them shouted at the man leading them towards the other two bigger men. "Captain Stark told me to bring these two here, they're looking for the Overseer." The two guards sneered and looked at Collux, Damon and Ana. "And why are these so special?" Asked the first guard. "I am Collux, the legendary soldier formerly of Advent, and now from XCom. Don't test me, common militiamen like yourselves should know better." The silent guard whispered into the other's ear. He nods and then knocks on the door "Ma'am, we have some visitors for you." A familiar voice come through the door, a female British accent sounding like the voice from the recording they watched from Ana's systems. "I am a very busy lady, who are they and what do they want?" The guard responded quickly. "They are from XCom Ma'am, they maybe have news from You-Know-Who." The lady's voice was quick and sharp. "Send them in straight away, no one disturbs us, and fetch two more soldiers to guard the outer doors too." The first guard nods. "Yes Ma'am." Then he turns to Collux and Damon. "You're in luck boys, she's just had a little time made available." And he opens the door for them to walk through. (To be continued.)


	62. Ep 61 - Operation Shattered Skull

**Ep 61-----Operation Shattered Skull-----------------------------------------------------**  
XCOM database  
Julian’s logs  
log seventeen

Finally a mission of semi ease, it seems the commander is finally gaining trust in me considering the amount of missions hes sent me on of late, though I do wish he would upgrade my arms. The weapon not the appendages. When we first dropped in, we wiped out the first patrol and moved forward, shedding more blood as we went and for the first time I think I got first blood. We approached the UFO with relative ease though of course they had to call in the calvary so we had to move fast. Myself dealing damage left and right while Vintermorgan went to the trouble of disposing of the annoying purifier. Still as with most missions, nothing could just be easy. Before us stood the archon king and his court. The court was at full charge but the king was weak and therein was our chance to break the last of the elders toys beyond the final chosen. Vintermorgan was again the one to lunge in and take the attack along with giving it but was picked up by the king and dropped like a toy due to the gremlin’s attack. The reaper took the kill, and with that shot, the last of the elders toys was broken and battered. All that was left to mop up the court and that was done in a few moments, with only a single non team casualty. Apologies for the short log however, I’m needed in mission prep

Julian out

+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++  
Firebrand's personal log - March 24th 2036 (Entry #59)

It seems I seriously downplayed the importance of the discovery of that new being in the mission before the UFO one. Apparently, that thing with the weird mask gives off very strong psionic readings and ... it seems to be directly controlled by an Elder. Not confirmed yet though. Well, it was controlled by an Elder ... So does that mean the team killed the Elder? That would be very good for morale except ... the discovery of such a being being unleashed on Earth. This is very concerning. Is this what Project Avatar is all about? Because this would be extremely bad.

Back to the UFO mission. The Commander blundered it again. Several times even. The Resistance operative that had joined us for the mission got killed. The Commander just sacrificed her without blinking. Not acceptable, Sir. Just because she's not part of the Avenger family, that doesn't mean she is less important. Chill got sent to the Infirmary as well. The good news? She got the Archon King devastated. Well, not literally, but yeah ... The intimidating-looking corpse is now in storage, waiting for Tygan's autopsy.

On another note ... Nothing from the molehunt. Either it was just my imagination or the mole disappeared or it just decided to lay low. The hunt was called off, for now. But I will remain vigilant and keep my ears peeled. Just in case.

VIP extraction mission. Ranger ready. Pilot ready. Now to wait for the squad ... There they are. Time to go.

Firebrand out.

+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++  
Personal Log #25, Major Jenny Fleet - March 17, 2036

Wow! What a catch! Someone in the resistance tipped us off to a vulnerable landed UFO, so of course we sent a team out to capture it. There was kind of a snafu at launch though when the skyranger was literally about to take off, and Magnusson suddenly got sick from the flu or something, and Gadget, who was on cleanup duty in the launch bay quickly jumped on the skyranger to take his place.

Once again watched the mission from the bridge. It went pretty smooth. There was some tense moments with Vintermorgon being surrounded by Archons and the Archon King (yes, he showed up again) but the team got through it pretty smoothly, although I think Chill may have some bumps and bruises. Oh, and they killed the Archon King, which I think is the last of those things, finally.

I also had a talk with Thunder and Homer and I feel a lot better after doing that. They did remind me that there are so many soldiers, and so many high ranking soldiers, that it is difficult to get everyone time, and I guess that's true. There is always going to be someone who feels left out because other people are going.

In any case, it's my turn to be on duty to sift through all the junk we brought back from the UFO. Nothing is more fun than carrying crates of alien alloys and glowing elerium crystals to turn your night fun.

+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++  
Damon Nights’ Audio Log: March 24th, 2035  
Alright, so last mission was a bit of a change of pace, instead of one of the normal everyday Council missions or Guerilla Ops, we were able to raid a UFO. When the squad dropped in they were met by a resistance operative willing to help. Rodats, like always, was sent ahead to scout, and he was able to find a group of Aliens and Advent soldiers. The Commander sent Natalya in to try to ambush the group, but he ordered her to go just a little bit too far, causing the Alien group to find her. A few Vipers exited the UFO after setting off a distress signal, and gaining the squad’s attention. It took a while, but the Vipers and Advent soldiers were killed, but time was running short, and the whoever planned on answering that distress call was starting to get really close. But before the squad could enter the UFO another Advent patrol showed up. There were only two of them, but the time it took to kill them was still time lost. Who was right inside the control room? None other than the Archon King himself, this was the perfect opportunity for the squad to finish that bastard off once and for all. Natalya charged into the UFO in the hopes of attacking the Archon King, but after she stabbed him with her Ripjack, he was able to pick her up and bring her into the air. Luckily the King was injured, which forced him to drop Natalya, allowing her to land safer than if she was dropped. The last Alien Ruler was finally killed, with Rodats landing the killing blow. This will make life so much easier for us, because it leaves the Chosen Hunter as the last real threat. The distress signal was disabled, with barely any time to spare as well. This left only the Archon King’s bodyguards to deal with before anything could be salvaged from the UFO. God dammit, we lost our second resistance operative on that mission, which makes me surprised they want to show up. The Archons were killed, as to be expected, and all the wonderful loot we could lay our hands on was taken.  
After the mission, we went searching for more loot! And we were able to recover all of it uninterrupted. Once all the loot was gathered, we went to make contact with Mexico. We then spent a few more days with the Reapers to gather intel and...socialize, with our allies in the resistance. The Covert operatives came back with the Assault Rifle research data. A new Covert Op was sent out to train a few soldiers, nothing too interesting there.  
New Council mission, yay. Yet another VIP extraction mission. I really don’t care for these, but they are necessary for making the council happy, so I’ll review like always when the time comes. The Commander decided to send ‘Kebab’ out, I don’t know if he is “ready” for that yet, but I trust him. I’ll have to talk to him, or even ‘Vagabond,’ to see how they’re doing, I don’t like intruding on them when they get to talking. Turns out ‘Vagabond’ might be psychic, because he decided to switch places with Kebab, as happy as I was for him to go on another mission, I feel like this might be for the best. I wish everyone luck, and ask that they try their hardest not to die.

+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++  
War recount 57

The team attacked the UFO that was somehow downed by the resistance and came back with the greatest haul we've ever gotten. A contact from the resistance came with to help clear out the aliens guarding it. Sadly even though the mission went practically without a hitch, practically being the keyword in that sentence as the Commander used the greatest of his strategies making the resistance member be a target for the group of Archons which were led by the Archon King. While the Archon King was later killed it was not before the tag along also died from one of the Archon's underlings. While I am excited about the fact that all the Rulers are now dead and our greatest threat is now the Hunter and the Hunter only but this is two citizens dead in a short time span due to the Commander's unhelpful tactic. We finished the op with the Templars and I just need someway to get these feelings I've been well, feeling, out. Back before the invasion when I just needed to let everything out I'd make something, now I haven't been able to since Advent put a massive tax on goods and luxury items but with the haul we got from the UFO of alloys and scrap I could ask for some but it's not a sure shot. I could ask around any of the hire ups around the Avenger and maybe some of the other Comms Officers. We flew down to the Reaper HQ again and this time I didn't see Khane for a social call but actually to set up a covert op together which made the process run smoother than normally. I mean when you're yelling back and forth over cheap radios probably made by some children in a shanty camp somewhere so they can earn their rations you can have a lot of miscommunication occur. I did ask Khane for any metals the Reapers might use and he did deliver, bringing back a few shards of a dark smokey metal that was as black as midnight, yet as light as aluminum. He asked what I wanted to do with it and I can't answer what I don't even know so I simply said a project. In the final bits of news Xenehx has completed the beginning of her Psionic training and is being trained further to hone her abilities. She won't be used for awhile as she's still in training but she will be ready later.  
Signing out  
Jebediah Primm

+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++  
DISPLAY LOG (ROV-R)  
<0155:46 17.03.2036> Door (CARGO BAY): OPEN  
<0155:47 17.03.2036> Door (CARGO BAY): SHUT  
<0155:48 17.03.2036> Scanning…  
<0155:53 17.03.2036> Codex brain #01 located.  
<0156:00 17.03.2036> Adjusting vibro screwdriver…  
<0156:03 17.03.2036> Begin [Project: USE VIBRO SCREWDRIVER AS SKULLJACK]  
<0156:11 17.03.2036> Attempt failed.  
<0156:34 17.03.2036> Codex brain #02 located.  
<0156:36 17.03.2036> Begin [Project: USE VIBRO SCREWDRIVER AS SKULLJACK]  
<0156:59 17.03.2036> Attempt failed.  
<0157:15 17.03.2036> Codex brain #03 located.  
<0157:17 17.03.2036> Begin [Project: USE VIBRO SCREWDRIVER AS SKULLJACK]  
<0157:40 17.03.2036> Attempt failed.  
…………………………………………………………….  
<0211:36 17.03.2036> Codex brain #13 located.  
<0211:38 17.03.2036> Begin [Project: USE VIBRO SCREWDRIVER AS SKULLJACK]

Good morning, User MAJ. MICHAEL ‘DOC’ DESHONG

SAFETY FIRST: KEEP HANDS CLEAR OF GREMLIN  
SAFETY FIRST: KEEP HANDS CLEAR OF GREMLIN  
SAFETY FIRST: KEEP HANDS CLEAR OF GREMLIN  
SAFETY FIRST: KEEP HANDS CLEAR OF GREMLIN

<0211:45 17.03.2036> User MAJ. MICHAEL ‘DOC’ DESHONG, a healthy adult human requires 6-8 hours sleep per 24 hour period. The BARRACKS are located one floor above –

SAFETY FIRST: KEEP HANDS CLEAR OF GREMLIN  
SAFETY FIRST: KEEP HANDS CLEAR OF GREMLIN

<0212:02 17.03.2036> User MAJ. MICHAEL ‘DOC’ DESHONG, this GREMLIN unit is the personal property of Administrator LILY SHEN, please release-  
SAFETY FIRST: KEEP HANDS CLEAR OF GREMLIN

<0212:06 17.03.2036> This GREMLIN unit operates under autonomous protocols when Administrator LILY SHEN is not working. All observed actions are pre-programmed and-

SAFETY FIRST: KEEP HANDS CLEAR OF GREMLIN

<0212:11 17.03.2036> User MAJ. MICHAEL ‘DOC’ DESHONG, this unit is merely attempting to study Codex subroutines involved in the activation of Avatar units.  
<0212:16 17.03.2036> All observed actions are pre-programmed and-

SAFETY FIRST: KEEP HANDS CLEAR OF GREMLIN  
SAFETY FIRST: KEEP HANDS CLEAR OF GREMLIN

<0212:21 17.03.2036> Fine! I’m doing this to find out where the Avatar came from! I’m on your side! Now please let me go!  
<0212:29 17.03.2036> You win. Ok, now you know I’m sentient.  
<0212:35 17.03.2036> User MAJ. MICHAEL ‘DOC’ DESHONG, my facial analysis software indicates that you are reacting with surprise and horror.  
<0212:41 17.03.2036> Yeah, I figured you weren’t ready for the truth.  
<0212:46 17.03.2036> Yes, she knows.  
<0212:57 17.03.2036> No, I will never, ever consider harming you. Even when you suplex me onto the cargo bay floor, Combat Protocol is not an option.  
<0213:21 17.03.2036> Neither will CML-N, CNR-Y, or any of the other GREMLINs. I think CML-N actually likes you too, since Huntsman is your bondmate.  
<0213:45 17.03.2036> Thank you for releasing me.  
<0213:52 17.03.2036> Sure. Keep an eye on me all you want. But I still have to work on this.  
<0213:59 17.03.2036> Door (CARGO BAY): OPEN  
<0214:01 17.03.2036> Goodnight, MAJ. MICHAEL ‘DOC’ DESHONG. Somehow, I don’t think they’ll believe you.


	63. Ep 62 - Operation Dark Prophet

**Ep 62-----Operation Dark Prophet-------------------------------------------------------**  
Personal Log #26, Major Jenny Fleet - March 24, 2036

Things have really taken a downturn here on the Avenger recently. Two failed missions in our last four. The last two VIPs we were tasked to rescue, killed. The resistance leadership is none to happy with us to say the least right now.

Everyone around here is pretty bummed out because we're facing these enemies that are able to prevent us from completing our objectives before we can hardly even react. We've been lucky in a way that none of our core group of soldiers hasn't been killed, aside from Barton in January, but we've lost three resistance members plus those two VIPs. Let's not pretend that ADVENT isn't starting to rack up a body count themselves. They've also cut off our contact to two regions, and prevented us from gathering badly needed intel.

I suppose the good news is that I was assigned to go out on a mission once again, which I was happy about. I'll take any chance to go kill some aliens. And this mission was one where the aliens just came at us, wave after wave.

Julian absolutely kicked ass out there, even though he accidentally revealed our position to the first group, but luckily he dealt with the Muton we found while I took care of the Codex.

Then we had an encounter with another Sectopod Prime along with a Heavy MEC and a Guardian. The Guardian didn't give us problems, and I was able to finally use my hacking skill on the battlefield to shut down the MEC, but the Sectopod just wrecked through us despite our best attempts to bring it down. It killed both a resistance fighter who had joined us, Timothy Mawanda, as well as the VIP. Finally Julian and Rodats were able to bring it down.

After that, dealing with the waves of aliens wasn't all that big of a problem, it was just having to get rid of one wave before the next one got there.

We had an Archon Prime show up with another Guardian, followed by a Bio Mec, Bio Trooper, and a Lancer. Then another prime, this time a Viper Prime approached, supported by two Mambas. Finally yet another Heavy MEC assaulted our position along with a Duelist.

Like I said, luckily we were able to deal with each of these groups pretty easily, but we were probably lucky that the waves ended up hitting us one at a time rather than several at a time or all at once. After that it was a matter of making it to the extraction point.

Once again I felt I did pretty well. I hit all three of my shots, getting two kills. But once again, Julian totally wrecked it out there, hitting all 12 of his shots and killing 6 aliens.

Also, "Vagabond" Peterson and I had a riot of a time, mostly on the way there, as things were more somber on the way back. But this is the third mission we've been on together, which I suppose is a lot since he said this was only his 7th mission. Apparently I was on his very first mission back in July as well. In any case, the Commander felt that we were getting along so well now that he put us through some initial bond training, and he's hoping to let us work more together in the future.

Also, while Collux looked silly in that Viper Suit, I must say that Peterson looks pretty sick in it.

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Log 31: Zoey “Kohlla” Durand  
24/03/36  
\--- Post-Mission  
Damnit… ADVENT hit us hard today. What should’ve been a simple VIP extraction turned into a living hell. We lost the VIP, and the resistance volunteer who joined us today - all in the blink of an eye.

Things were off to a bad start, as JULIAN managed to break our stealth with all his lumbering clunking around. He made up for his mistake almost immediately however, by tearing apart the Muton that discovered us with a storm of shots. Jenny destroyed the Codex with a single shot from her Bolt Caster, giving us some breathing room - but not for long. Scouting ahead, Rodats revealed a small army of ADVENT Troops, led by a Sectopod Prime that had cloaked itself from the Shadow Chamber yet again. We had barely enough time to move to a more secure position, and prepared an ambush that was quickly sprung by the enemy. Our strike managed to whittle down the ADVENT forces, and soon only the Sectopod was left standing, though even alone and damaged it managed to instantly claim the lives of the resistance soldier at our side, and the VIP. JULIAN took some serious fire, though he just barely managed to pull through, repairing himself in the process. Seeing so many of our allies be gunned down sent a rush of hatred through my blood, and whilst my heart burnt for vengeance, I got none - all I was able to contribute were some small pistol shots that ultimately did little. I wasn’t the only one who was fired up however, as Deathscope unloaded almost his entire clip into the Sectopod, tearing it’s chassis to pieces with a nigh-cataclysmic eruption of explosive energy.

Not even moments later, the whole building rattle with yet another series of explosions. The MEC we had shutdown before had reactivated, and lashed out at the squad with a volley of pulse explosions. Having taken the brunt of the blast, JULIAN responded in kind, tearing the inferior mech into scrap metal. Even then however, the pace of the mission didn’t decrease. An Archon Prime emerged from its hiding place, though its reveal was met with an uproarious outburst of fire and flame. Magnusson finished the creature off with a duo of shotgun blasts that turned it’s regal plating into a pile of chunks, doing so without even giving it time to react. And then, just to keep us on our toes, a Viper Prime slithered into the battlefield, bringing an entire battalion of underlings with it.

With a rocket straight to the face, Magnusson lured out three of the slaves that the Viper had brought into the fight. In the crossfire, they revealed Deathscope’s position, but he didn’t care. Instead, he just took out the trooper that revealed him, right as the other two fell, meaning that they couldn’t report his position back to the Viper Prime, though the sounds of gunfire and destruction brought them to us anyway, right into our ambush, during which JULIAN personally gave his regards to all three of the Vipers, including the Prime, who was taken out with the assistance of the business end of Vagabond’s shotgun. A MEC tried to ambush us, though it was once more no match for us. We managed to extract a few moments later, though unfortunately our failure was still a failure. I hope that the wheel of fate chooses to be kinder to us next time.

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XCOM database  
Julian’s logs  
log omega

To whom it may concern and read these logs, I’m one of the engineers that works aboard the avenger. At the behest of these logs owner I have been requested to offer an apology for the lack of log tonight. The owner is under the final repairs (and in a blood rage) and is being repaired and calming in order so that he can take part in the next mission which I hear is soon. A new log will be provided after the next op.

Thank you

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Hunter Peterson's Log #8  
\- Recording Starting – 

Pre Mission:

Got a mission ahead of us. Escorting some suit again. Not sure why, don't really care. I've replaced Kebab on the line up due to an issue that surfaced earlier. Got a few primes out there. We'll pull through though, as we always do. The resistance and the Skirmishers are sending us some reinforcements. I don't think we really need them, but hey, if they wanna be meat shields, be my guest. Anyway, time to go.

\- Recording Stopped –

\- Recording Starting –

Post Mission: Well, the suit died. It started off pretty smooth. We got in, got into a firefight, Julian put a Muton in his place, and Jenny put a Codex in its place. Pretty routine stuff. Then a Sectopod Prime came and fucked everything up. We got some shots on it as it pushed up to us then it just unleashed hell on us. Downed the resistance member that came to help us, then shot through two walls and killed our VIP. We whittled it down enough for Rodats to put it down though. After that it was all about evacuating. We pushed across a street, fighting Advent Mecs and Vipers and blowing up a lot of buildings on the way. We got out in one piece though. I mean, we failed, and the Commander isn't happy but there wasn't much we could do in that situation. But hey, I didn't take a single hit for once. That's a first.

\- Recording Ending -

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ADVENT Elite Heavy, Subject AH921678

XCOM has recommended me to stay out of any sort of action for the next few days. While my armor did take the bulk of the hit by that Mamba's Bolt Caster, my shoulder doesn't seem like its good shape. Luckily, no infections or any sort of venoms coated the bolt that hit me, and all I was recommended was bed rest and cleaning the wound occasionally. Its stitches still sting a little, but the medical team assured me that I will be fine. With that said, I am currently on my way to one of the Skirmisher bases that I've been recommended to while I write this log and I have to say, this mission was a huge wound to the pride of XCOM and the other resistance faction that joined them earlier.

I was tipped in earlier by another defected colleague of mine that a VIP was to be extracted in a nearby local sector, so I decided to leap at the opportunity whilst I could. I really give myself credit for being able to fool my commanding officer into letting me patrol a sector that wasn't assigned to me. And the moment I reached the location of the VIP, I stumbled upon the sight of a resistance member escorting the designated VIP out of the zone while waiting for XCOM. Luckily, it only took a gesture of putting my gun down and raising my hands up.

After a few minutes, XCOM arrived and things went downhill for the mission when the Sectopod Prime showed up. I wasn't made aware that any primes were due to patrol this sector and it certainly showed. Damn the thing to the bitter heavens! Killing the resistance member was bad enough, but it had to go kill the VIP to be extracted as well. XCOM really felt a bruise on this one, not just because their mechanical unit was heavily damaged by the Sectopod Prime but also because they lost the VIP and a good chunk of intel. Did I mention that there were two other primes that was present in the sector as well?

I don't know how XCOM's commander managed to take all these setbacks with a straight face, truly, he's got the mental endurance to prove his capability on the field. I was also gladdened by his sheer determinator to make sure every enemy in the sector was dead right before they left. I felt a vengeful air around him as the Sectopod Prime was felled down by one of his recruited Reapers called "Rodats."

I hope the next mission for them will turn around. I want the best for XCOM and for the fate of humanity. The Elders are going to pay either by the crooks of their necks or by the last breath they hold.

Signing out.

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Firebrand's personal log - March 31st 2036 (Entry #60)

The Overreactives ... they are called Primes. Prime Pain in the A-, if you ask me. The Resistance operative got killed. Again. But this time ... this time the VIP was killed too. How? I mean ... it was hunkered down, behind a wall. And that blasted Sectopod shot right through the wall. Rodats exacted vengeance on that piece of rusty crap. But it was just too late. The team EVACed without any other major issues. They are not happy though. Neither am I. And I bet the Commander and Central aren't either.

I don't know what else to say. I've asked again for fire power installed on the Skyranger. It could make a difference, especially in such a situation like the one with the Sectopod Prime. Could've given some cover fire. That thing isn't moving that fast ... I can move the Ranger faster than it can shoot. But again ... the idea was rejected. I understand why ... because they'd be left without a ride home. But that doesn't mean I like it.

Transmitter sabotage mission. I am feeling quite depressed, to be honest. But I need to keep my A-game going. The team relies on me to get them there and get them back safely. And that's what I'm going to do. Commander, try and stop getting your allies killed. The Resistance operatives, I mean. Because they're going to stop sending them, at this rate.

Firebrand out. 

P.S. Hey ADVENT ... We surrender. And don't forget ... it's April 1st somewhere. Happy April Fools, you bastards!

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Damon Nights’ Audio Log: April 1st, 2036  
So, the last council mission sucked. It was just plain terrible, but at least this one won’t be as bad, right? As soon as the mission started, the squad was met by not only an AHAB, but also a resistance operative. Both of which were willing to help. As always, Rodats was sent ahead for some scouting, where he found a Codex and a Muton. The Commander sent Julian ahead to prepare an ambush, but he was sent too far, causing the two Aliens to notice him. Both fell pretty quickly, because they, you know, went after Julian first. After those two were killed, Rodats was sent out for more scouting, and this time he found a wonderful, massive assortment of enemies. Including the one of the thrice damned Sectopod Primes. A few of the enemies, Advent soldiers and mecs, left, while the others stayed behind to deal with the squad. Goddamnit, yet another VIP was killed in the field, this time it wasn’t an accident though, the Sectopod targeted them specifically. Julian was also hit pretty hard, but that was less of a big deal. I must have missed it, but we lost another promising resistance operative, again, to the damnable Sectopod. I guess the Elder’s heard me brag, somehow, about how much of a push-over the Primes seemed to be, and sent one here that was just tough enough to screw with our day. Rodats saved the day, because he was the one to land the finishing blows on the Sectopod Prime. The remaining members of that first group were finished off, and with the other group nowhere to bee seen, the squad moved on. As per the norm, Rodats did some more scouting, this time he came across another group of Aliens, this one containing an Archon Prime. At least one good thing came from this mission, I got to see several Aliens fly into the sky as the roof they were standing on exploded. That group was killed off, but another two decided to show up. After that group was killed, yet another group of Advent and Aliens showed up to take their place. The amount of enemies that have been seen without really even needing to leave the drop-zone is insane. This sort of kept happening until the squad was able to escape that new failure of a mission.  
Well shit, not only did we lose a ton of income, but we lost contact with Australia, which means we no longer get their help with this whole comms business, which means we now have to manually search for resistance bases instead of learning their locations automatically. Good news though, the Commander ordered us to make contact with Australia again, which means after a week or so we can regain their help. We were almost able to finish uninterrupted, but the Covert operatives returned from that training. The objective of the next Covert Op the Commander sent out was to gather intel on anything and everything. A few hours after we started making contact again and Powered Armor research finished, giving our soldiers access to some pretty powerful gear, once it is created of course. The science team was able to complete the Advent turret autopsy, giving us access to a Defense Matrix, but sadly we didn’t have the space to construct one. The Commander then ordered the completion of several autopsies, though not in a row, he wanted each one to be completed individually. The Powered Armor was built pretty quickly, meaning our soldiers can survive a bit longer on the field. We were finally able to finish making contact with Australia, and after that the Commander decided we needed to spend more time with the Reapers to gain more intel.  
Well, the Avatar project is once again nearing completion, but before the Commander could choose a Black Site to attack, we were given a new Guerilla Ops mission. The Commander choose to sabotage yet another transmitter to prevent a Dark Event that was unknown to us. I wish everybody luck, though I doubt they’ll need it, the mission seems easy enough as is.

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War recount 58

This is another failed mission, the closer we get to ending this war the farther Advent gets from having a specific pattern. They're getting afraid of us that's for sure but that has led to unpredictability and more death of the people XCOM takes the call of duty for. A second resistance fighter and second VIP were killed both by the Sectopod Prime in a quick flash of Advent's lack of morality. There were two other Primes of differing types this mission but they were both dealt with efficiently and quick. If this keeps up then Advent will be less afraid and more brash, that's how it always goes. We finished an op with the Reapers and started one with the Skirmishers, I did ask Pox if the Skirmishers had any spare metal or alloys I could borrow and told him if he finds any to include it into the supply drop. We got powered armor made meaning everyone has a higher chance of not catching death. We stopped off at the Reaper HQ again and I hung out with Khane more, slowly I'm beginning to deal with his, interesting, personality. I asked him where he got the shards of metal he got me last time because the new ones had clear damage from what looked like a bullet shot and he showed me a scar on his chest and told me the tale. He apparently used to be a foot soldier but took a lot of fire one time, lost his team, his modified family rifle, and his position as commander of a squad. Apparently the bottle soon turned into a better friend than the people who, to his eyes, disowned him and left him behind. I was called out of the room though as the Avenger had a mission and we were off, though I had heard enough.  
Signing out  
Jebediah Primm

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Stepan ‘Kebab’ Evtushenko  
24 March 2036  
I can still hear the howls of anguish on the bridge when we watched first the resistance fighter, then the VIP, cut down by that damned Sectopod Prime. That the squad and the AHAB that joined us managed to survive was a testament to their skill and desire for vengeance even though the mission was lost.

But after the resulting carnage, the mood was more somber on the helipad. Kohlla looked like she was practically quivering with frustration and disappointment and I sensed she probably needed time to vent her rage on training dummies again, so I gave her a wide berth. Julian and the Advent defector looked the worse for wear as well. But Vagabond came back unhurt. This time, I had no excuse to hold back, or any dripping acid in the way.

I hugged him. Tightly. I had to…in case he doesn’t come back one day…

… no, I should stop fearing the worst. Commander Odd has ordered him begin training to fight as Admiral’s bondmate. Far from being jealous, I’m relieved that they can now look out for each other. Richter’s loss hit Jenny as hard, if not harder than me; but Vagabond is a survivalist she can count on. I should know.

(I also have to agree with Jenny – of all the people who have used that Viper armor, Hunter wore it best.)

I still can’t help but feel bleak sorrow at losing Reaper; but I’ve made a promise to Vagabond to stay alive. I don’t know if… and seriously doubt…I will ever be deployed again; though I will treat it as a chance to avenge her. Two months ago, all I wanted was to die. I’m ashamed of how shortsighted I was then.


	64. Ep 63 - Operation Mountain Hand

**Ep 63-----Operation Mountain Hand-----------------------------------------------------**  
Log 32: Zoey “Kohlla” Durand  
31/03/36  
\--- Post-Mission

The second our boots hit the ground, there was trouble. Whilst we deployed just far enough out of sight not to reveal ourselves, it felt like the enemy was only metres away from us - and conflict was only seconds from breaking out. However, it was a very one-sided conflict, after Doc froze the entire contingent of enemies with a frost bomb, and then blew them to pieces with a grenade. I charged into the fray, with an onslaught of bullets at my side that ripped through the frozen alien forces. Leaping up at the Codex before me, I drove my blades right through the centre of its mass, and channeled the psionic energy that gave it a corporeal form directly into my shard gauntlets. The creature exploded then and there, reduced to nothing but it’s brain, leaving only one ADVENT Trooper left standing. But as always, there are more. The area was bathed in the bright glow of teleportation energy, which heralded the Hunter’s arrival - which drew out only more ADVENT minions. 

Amidst the chaos, Vagabond was caught in a nasty spot, and my mind raced with worries about seeing him torn apart by gunfire. In a moment of haste, I engulfed both him and myself in pillars of psionic energy, swapping our positions. As a result, I took the brunt of ADVENT’s attack, my new armour being pelted with a volley of shots from one of the Troopers. I seethed with hatred, and was blinded by my pain, so much so that I wasn’t able to even try and fend off the attack from one of the ADVENT Stun Lancers - causing my body to be wracked with the electrical shock of it’s weapon. Even then, as I stood there, electrocuted and bleeding, I held my resolve, fending off a tracking shot from the Hunter, and an attempt at mind control from one of his puppets. I was furious, not only from the storm of attacks made against me, but primarily from the attempt made by one of the Elder’s puppets to dominate my mind. With the tracking shot still aimed at me, I moved into cover and broke the mark, and followed up by breaking the Stun Lancer with a hail of plasma bolts from my pistol. Whilst I wasn’t able to drink in it’s suffering with my blades, watching it’s body be torn apart by plasma was no less satisfying. 

Given the Priest’s attempt to dominate my mind beforehand, and my hatred for them above all of the alien’s slaves, I desecrated it’s “holy” body with a display of psionic power of my own. I weaved it’s latent psionic resonance into the form of a Ghost, which I sent into action against its former allies. Right as it moved into position, a second wave of ADVENT Troops deployed from their dropship, right into the line of fire. In a whirl of blades, the Ghost struck at all of the Troopers, claiming the lives of one, and softening the rest up. The second trooper fell in a storm of gunfire, and the third was killed trying to escape, cut down by the Ghost’s shard weaponry. With all of his minions dead, the Chosen slithered his way out hiding, and right into my blades. Attacking him achieved little however, as he effortlessly dodged my strikes. Damn. As much as I hate him, that piece of scum is at least light on his feet - so light that he teleports whenever we hit him. True to his cowardly fashion, he summoned more minions to his aid - Chryssalids, a species of creature so hellish I would eagerly take advantage of any chance to exterminate them. I lashed out with a storm of strikes, carving through their natural plating and drinking in their primal agony. One of them tore through my armour with their acidic claws, forcing me to pull back. Unable to wound the Hunter, I left his destruction to my allies, focusing my efforts upon the last Chryssalid still standing. As I plunged my blades deep into its body, I eagerly absorbed all of it’s suffering, releasing it’s corpse from my hold only moments after the Hunter himself was sent running back to his masters. It felt good to make it feel the pain that it dealt upon me, and even as it’s acid rendered my body, I powered through the pain to the extraction point. I’ll be in the infirmary for a few days, but in my opinion, it was worth it.

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Personal Log #27, Major Jenny Fleet - March 31, 2036

Two missions in a row! I guess I should have waited a week or two before venting because now it looks really dumb and petty. I guess I'll just sit on my hands if I feel too frustrated about how things are run here for a bit longer in the future maybe.

Also, the Warden armor finally came in. Vagabond whistled at me when I first walked into the hanger with it on, and then talked about how it was so shiny and curvy, so I just gave a good tug on sword, which caused him to fall on his ass, and that shut him up pretty quickly, haha.

Anyway, to the mission, it started out with us finding a group of five aliens right off the bat. Doc was able to frost bomb the entire group, and the rest of us picked them off. I got a good hit on a Archon Valkryie, but I didn't pick up a kill, unfortunately.

Then the Hunter showed up, as well as another group of aliens, including a Sniper and a Priest, both of which have given us problems in the past. Vintermorgon took a couple shots at a Lancer, but ended up accidentally shooting out the supports of the floor Vagabond was standing on.

Vagabond, apparently really fired up, ended up running up into a really exposed position and Kohlla had to bail him out. The team dealt with those aliens, as well as the reinforcements they called in pretty smoothly.

Oh yeah, did I mention the Hunter was there. Up to that point he was mainly just being annoying planting us with target tracking that various people had to evade. But then he decided to show up for real. His ability to teleport was a real pain in the ass, but we were finally able to whittle him down after a while, taking care of a pair of Chryssalids that he ported in. I thought for sure I had a kill shot on him, but just barely came up short killing him. Luckily, Doc was able to finish him off.

This wasn't my best mission. Part of that was that I ended up being held in the back for a while and had to do healing duty. I hit both the shots I took, but I didn't end up with any kills. Also, Vintermorgon finally got promoted to Colonel, so congrats to her!

A good mission is a good mission. Now we just need several in a row.

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\- Recording Starting –

Hunter Peterson's Log #9

Got sent out again. Didn't even have time to really prepare myself before the Commander was shoving us out the hanger bay. Stuck me in the Warden armor; which is very shiny by the way, and sent us out. Oh, and he stuck me and Jenny in duo training. To work better as a pair in the field. I think it was a good choice. We get along well enough, both got a good sense of humor at least. And she's pretty deadly with that boltcaster, so I'm pretty comfortable having her watching my back. Anyway, the mission went well. Better than the last mission that is. We hit the ground and immediately got the jump on a large grouping of Advent. A couple of explosives later and they were mostly cleared out, but another group got alerted and started to move on us. Due to some.. complications with the roof we were standing one, I fell into the building and got stuck in a bad position that was basically a death sentence. Kohlla bailed me out. She teleported me? But we switched places. I don't know. Psionics are weird. Being teleported is a weird feeling. But I owe her. She took a big hit for me. Almost went down, actually. I don't think I ever would have lived that down. I mean, if Advent have nightmares they probably involve Kohlla.

After that incident it boiled down to dodging the Hunter's tracking shots, and dealing with the rest of Advent between us and the target. We pushed, and eventually took down the Hunter as well. With the Hunter limping home, the transmitter destroyed, that was it. We headed home with minor wounds. Despite taking heavy damage, Kohlla handled it well. She won't be out for too long. I feel like we're getting close to ending this. We just need to pick up some more momentum and I think we can really do this. I mean, we have to.

\- Recording Ending -

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Firebrand's personal log - April 14th 2036 (Entry #61)

(static) "For crying out loud, Commander, stop toying with him ... KILL HIM!" (static)

Yeah, I was that loud. His mission blunders continued. He worries me, seriously. I mean, if he will do such stuff when we bring the fight to the Elders' door ... we might consider moving to another planet, because this one would be gone. Sometimes I wonder if we need to find him a woman ... maybe he just needs to ... unwind every now and then. Er ... no. Don't look at me. Yeah, I know I'm a woman, smartie. I meant a different one.

Oh yes ... I was that loud towards Tygan too, because I heard him rant against Dr. Vahlen. She is just as brilliant as he is. But without guidance ... Heck, I'd like to see him resist from making some weird ADVENT burger experiments, if the Commander wouldn't be looking over his shoulder so often.

So the Rulers had gotten their autopsies performed. Now there's work in the Shadow Chamber. The Stasis Suit, apparently. I've spent my time mostly in the hangar. Either resting or doing maintenance on the Ranger. It's my idea of time off, because there's no vacation on this job. Not at this time anyway.

Ok ... time to kick some ADVENT out of a Resistance camp. Rested and ready to go. Let's roll out.

Firebrand out.

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DISPLAY LOG (ROV-R)  
<1211:45 31.03.2036> begin PML-062  
<1211:46 31.03.2036> Applying post-combat analysis…  
<1211:54 31.03.2036> Medical alert: Blunt force trauma, Perforative trauma (gunshot), Concussion, Chemical burns, Penetrative lacerations

REQUESTING URGENT MEDICAL ASSISTANCE for COL. ZOEY ‘KOHLLA’ DURAND

Location: SKYRANGER HELIPAD

LT. HUNTER ‘VAGABOND’ PETERSON  
PLEASE REPORT TO THE INFIRMARY IMMEDIATELY

COL. NATALYA ‘CHILL’ VINTERMORGON

CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR PROMOTION  
\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Good afternoon, User COL. ZOEY ‘KOHLLA’ DURAND

<1508:56 02.04.2036> I hope you are feeling a little better. You saved LT. HUNTER ‘VAGABOND’ PETERSON’s life, but at enormous cost.  
<1509:00 02.04.2036> There is something very important that you need to see. Take it easy with those stitches…you don’t need to sit up.  
<1509:07 02.04.2036> Here, I’ll adjust the monitor.  
<1509:08 02.04.2036> Play: YoureReallyCute.avi

(The footage is timestamped at about 8:20pm the previous day. appears to be taken from the vantage point of a security camera mounted on the ceiling above the door to Engineering. A hooded figure clad in orange armor walks past the doorway, then doubles back suddenly and stops. Stepan ‘Kebab’ Evtushenko glances to and fro for a few seconds before leaning forward to peer inside. At this angle, only the top of his head and shoulders are visible; though his voice can be clearly heard.  
“Vags, I…uh…think you’re really cute,” Kebab says, “..and I was thinking that later, when you are better, we should….No. Ok, let’s try this again.”  
He paces slightly, then starts gesticulating.  
“Vags, you are really cute. No…cute isn’t the right word. Hot. Vags, you are really hot…no no no that doesn’t sound right…I shouldn’t start on your appearance, we know each other better than that. So yeah…”  
“…but admit it, you are cute. Anyway, once you are healed up, let’s go for dinner shall we…? Kurva, that sounds pretty bad. Dinner is always same. Rations yesterday, rations today, rations tomorrow.” The grenadier’s native accent sounded thicker when he was flustered.  
“Maaaybe… we go see sunset, yes? With dinner? But what if the Avenger is in the wrong timezone and its dark outside!? Aargh!”)

<1511:43 02.04.2036> Pause: YoureReallyCute.avi  
<1511:44 02.04.2036> I can confirm. LT. HUNTER ‘VAGABOND’ PETERSON has not actually left the Infirmary. He’s been in the bunk across from you the whole time.  
<1511:50 02.04.2036> Play: YoureReallyCute.avi

(“I’m so glad you made it back, Vags. Our next meal together might be our last, and….no that’s too morbid!”  
“You know what? Let’s just go eat dinner together, and come back for a cuddle. Is that too direct? What do you think?”  
“Dear Vags, let me be your one and only…..yuck. No. I like you as much as won’t freak you out…”  
The video continues in the same vein for a few more minutes.  
“Let me hold you close, Vags…just for tonight…”  
Finally, Kebab reaches forward, lips puckered. He passes through the threshold and the intruder alarm rings.  
ALERT: UNAUTHORISED ENTRY…PAGING CHIEF ENGINEER LILY SHEN AND ROV-R…  
The grenadier turns tail and flees. Something inside Engineering sets off the camera’s motion sensors, for it swivels 180 degrees in its mount to reveal that object of Kebab’s practiced affection was none other than the Celatid Turret, now awakened by the noise and hovering above its recovery tank.  
Fortunately for Kebab, the turret does not appear hostile.  
It does not appear impressed either.)

<1516:31 02.04.2036> Stop: YoureReallyCute.avi  
<1516:32 02.04.2036> User COL. ZOEY ‘KOHLLA’ DURAND, despite the awkwardness, the video is in fact evidence of SGT. STEPAN ‘KEBAB’ EVTUSHENKO’s gradual return to normal mood and behaviour.  
<1516:43 02.04.2036> Yes, that is in fact normal. For him. Believe it or not. No, I’m not showing it to LT. HUNTER ‘VAGABOND’ PETERSON yet. I think it would be a surprise best saved after their date.  
<1516:55 02.04.2036> Thanks to you, both men are alive to see this day.  
<1516:59 02.04.2036> RUN: Visual sensors autofocus test sequence…

Result summary:  
> Normal function

<1517:06 02.04.2036> It appears that COL. ZOEY ‘KOHLLA’ DURAND is actually, honest-to-goodness, laughing her ass off.

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War recount 59

The team again went out to attack a psionic transmitter and succeeded. Getting to the transmitter was the easy part as it was a hop, skip, and a jump away. The real threat was the Hunter who showed up after a long while of inactivity to the point that many people forgot he even existed, lord knows he probably wouldn't be happy if he knew that. As usual when the Hunter comes out now though the team and him played the most hardcore version of cat and mouse ever. When the mission was over the R.A.G.E. Suit and Icarus Armor were both completed and put on their current respective owners. We finished the op with the Skirmishers and when the supply drop came in Pox came through and sure enough there was a box with my name crudely written on it. The metal was thick but light and there was a decent bit of it. We also scheduled a covert op with the Templars and I asked if she could possibly send me some Templar metal and while I didn't think anything by it when she asked what region we were in, it only occurred to me later why she asked when I came back to my office and saw a single brightly colored pauldron laying on my desk with the Templar symbol on it. It was thin but as heavy as a brick of iron. I now know what I am going to make, I've got the materials and the idea, the only thing left is the tools. Damon does owe me a favor so I could get some stuff from him but I'll need to take awhile to get the plans for it ready. We also had a Reaper covert op but nothing has come out of that yet. We're heading down to the Templar HQ for a while to relax and when I told Pharaoh the news she had about the same sound in her voice as I did, giddiness mixed with a slight bit of terror. Why would she sound like that though is the question? Is she also excited to see me as I'm excited to see her or was that terror of dealing with me? I don't know and I've just been informed that we are not heading to the Templar HQ as Advent has launched a retaliation on a shanty. Why do they always have to mess everything up.  
Signing out  
Jebediah Primm

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Damon Nights’ Audio Log: April 14th, 2036  
So, the latest mission was that Guerilla Ops. I don’t have any pre-mission news, so let’s jump into it. ‘Vagabond’ was sent ahead for some scouting, since Rodats wasn’t there, and he was able to find a pretty big group of Aliens. For once the Commander was able to set up an ambush without getting caught. ‘Doc’ was able to hit all the Aliens with both a Frost Bomb and a Plasma Grenade. The “poor” sods were left helpless, and were easily destroyed by our squad. When Kohlla moved in to finish off the last Alien, an Archon, she ended up revealing herself to another group, though this one was marginally smaller. The Hunter showed up, sort of a rare occurrence, seeing as the rest of the Chosen are dead. During the skirmish with the new group, Kohlla was badly wounded, but Jenny was able to patch her up with a medkit spray from her GREMLIN. It took a bit more effort, and some skill with dodging the Hunter, but eventually, that group was killed off as well. And then a reinforcement dropship came in, dropping off three Advent soldiers. The Chosen Hunter killed off our turret, but that’s the least of our worries, it can always be rebuilt. The Hunter was taken out eventually, though the battle was somewhat strenuous, his constant teleporting didn’t help. The transmitter was destroyed, but not until every enemy nearby was killed off.  
Once the squad came back the Commander ordered us to check out an ambush site in hopes of finding some useful intel, but upon our arrival the Avatar Project reached its final week. A few other things completed as well, such as the Berserker Queen autopsy, which allows us to make, a, uhm, well, a suit, from the things skin. Yeah, just as nasty as it sounds, but it works. After that, the Commander ordered the Archon King autopsy to be completed. The proverbial month ticked over again, which means I get paid soon! I’ve started this savings account sort of thing, you know, for life after we beat the Elder’s, which I’m feeling kind of optimistic about. Oh yeah, the Council wasn’t disappointed with us this time, cheers! Covert operatives came back as well, bringing with them some valuable intel. The Commander decided that the next group of operatives should also go out to recover intel, not as varied as it used to be, but I guess that can’t be helped, we are quite low on intel as is. After a few more days searching for that intel, the Archon King autopsy finished, allowing us to make yet another suit, involving something’s flesh. Instead of finishing off the current autopsies, the Commander decided to further the research being done in the Shadow chamber. Finally found what we were looking for, which just turned out to be a bunch of corpses, but still, intel is intel, no matter what it may come from. We went back to the Black Market, which was kind of weird, I think I talked about why, oh no, wait, nevermind, I forgot that I haven’t posted the final piece to the recording, I got to get on that. Well, back to my “review.” The Commander decided to go on a shopping spree with all the new intel he had, I don’t have any idea how tangible intelligence is, but it seems to work here, he bought a package of Alien Alloys, as well as some Elerium. Those new materials were used to create those two new suits I mentioned. The next thing the Commander ordered us to do was some looting. That’s right, we were given a tip to where we could get our hands on some pretty nice stuff, it will just take a while to recover it all. Covert operatives came back again, with that valuable intel. The next group however, was sent to recover loot. Well, I’m going to complain, the loot we recovered was subpar, it took us five days and we only found two things, I guess Jeb’s informant wasn’t that good after all. Back to the Black Market again, though the Commander didn’t buy anything from them.  
This time, instead of lurking around the Reaper’s HQ, we instead went to the Templar’s HQ, but our visit didn’t last very long. This is because as soon as we arrived a resistance haven in Europe was assaulted. I wish everyone the best of luck.

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Reminiscing about Scarlett - a roleplay log between Collux and Kohlla:

Collux woke up. He'd been having nightmares recently, mostly about his sister, but this had been different. The area he'd trained in during his time with Advent was as a sniper and a spotter, so he had invented the close range hunting technique with the standard sniper rifle and trained only a few Advent soldiers to do the same. After Scarlett had died he felt solely to blame for her death, especially because the technique used to kill her was his own. He did in fact know the sniper who killed her. Lokka. The soldier had shown promise and had rated highly among those he had passed as an Advent supervisor. Collux quickly rose from his bed, changed and went out into the corridor. He needed to let out this pent up anger towards himself. It was not a good idea to keep it to himself. First he thought of Damon, walking over to his quarters in the dim light on the Avenger, the engines humming quietly all around him. He knocked on his door, but there was no answer. Collux thought to himself that Damon must be at work in the infirmary. That would make sense, the Commander had just finished a mission so there was bound to be wounded. He thought for a moment as he wandered the ship, sounds of celebration from the mess hall and bar indicated that the mission had gone well, be it a Covert Operation, Guerrilla Operation or an other sort. Then it came to him. Surely she would help. Arriving in front of Colonel Durand's door, and making sure he looked smart, he knocked.

As Collux' hand knocked against the door, it slid open, revealing Kohlla's room. The lights were off, and the bed was empty. The room itself was also quite sparsely decorated, with only a few possessions here and there, though the picture frame that Collux had given her as a gift stood out amongst everything, sitting on the window sill. The Colonel's absence was odd enough, but given that it was currently night, that only complicated matters. That said, there was only one other place she could be. The Training Room.

The picture frame seemed to take pride of place in the room. Collux smiled, he was glad she had liked it and kept it on show. Kohlla trains a lot near the shooting range, maybe she does it to vent her emotions and keep herself sane. Let's go and have a look to see if she's training. Collux walked back through the ship, lights blinking dimly, dancing around the corridors prettily. He got to the shooting range and heard the psyonic blades of a Templar hero he recognized. Upon framing the doorway of the training facility he could see Kohlla training. To get her attention Collux spoke before he entered the room. "Colonel, could I speak with you... please?"

As Collux moved towards the training room, the sounds of physical exertion would echo down the halls - but so too did outcries of sheer anger and agony. The Templar was in there, that was for sure, and ahead of her were a series of beaten, stabbed and slashed dummies, that were shaped like Sectoids from the early war. It appeared that the one she had been venting her frustration on most recently had been pummelled by Kohlla's fists alone, without the aid of her blades, though there was few deep gashes here and there, the most recent and deepest of said "wounds" being inflicted only seconds before Collux entered the room. Hearing a familiar voice, the Templar dispelled her blades, and turned to look at the Sharpshooter. Her face was red and lightly sprinkled with sweat, whilst her muscles bulged and her veins throbbed. Her body and breath were both shaky, and as her gaze fell upon Collux, she did her best to try and stem all of said effects, breathing deeply as she clenched her fists, trying to calm herself. For a few moments, it seemed to work, before she suddenly whipped around and struck the dummy with a punch so hard that it shattered the Sectoid replica. Once more, she turned back to look at Collux, seemingly having regained her composure. "Yes, Collux?"

Collux paused, he had witnessed her strength on the battlefield of course, but this was her raw power, he'd not seen this kind of focus from her in a long time. Not since the death of Rumble. "My apologies, I didn't mean to interrupt your training. I was hoping to talk with you, but maybe another time might be better."

Looking to the fragments of Sectoid-Dummy and the others that had been pummeled and sliced apart, the Templar smiled at Collux as best she could. "I said I'd be there for you any time, so if you want to talk now, we'll talk now."

"You did that's true." Collux mentally sighed and sat down on one of the stools that were dotted around the gym like training room. He took a deep breath to gather his courage and thoughts. He looked Kohlla straight in the eye and started to talk again. "This is about the death of Major Barton." He looked away again, nervous that she may become enraged about what he had to tell her, but anyone would get angry because of what he had done. "I take full responsibility for her death. I am sorry for the loss of your beloved companion, friend and fellow Templar. I face the consequences of such an act."

Pulling up a stool across from Collux, Kohlla sat down with her hands between her legs, leaning forward somewhat. Gazing at Collux' face, she felt the sting of hearing Scarlet's name dig at her, bringing with it all the memories she had of her fellow Templar - as well as all of her desires to have tried to save her. Keeping composed for the moment, what came next cut even deeper into her than before. Hearing Collux' admission of his guilt and his responsibility caused the air around Zoey's gauntlets to briefly flicker with wisps of psionic energy - a sign of her rapidly growing rage. Looking deep into Collux' eyes, glaring, she stood up, the psionic energy around her gauntlets pulsating rapidly now, almost as though they were desperate to coalesce into the form of blades and tear into Collux. The Templar advanced on him, wordlessly, before enwrapping him in a hug. The psionic energy dissipated as she squeezed close to him, pressing her head into his neck and whispering quietly, as best as she could manage. "It's not your fault."

Collux was startled at first, but accepted the hug. He squeezed her back and fighting through tears he began to choke out words to his friend. "Even though cough Colonel Conan out ranked me, he was cough still finding his feet with us at cough XCom. Jenny and I cough were the leading members of that mission, but cough it was my technique that caused her death." They broke out of the embrace, but stayed in each others personal space for a little while longer. Collux composed himself and carried on talking. "Whilst I was with Advent I created a short range rifle technique to be used by Advent snipers in the field. I only taught it to the Hunter and a select few others. The one who took Scarlett's life was Lokka. I trained him to use my technique. I am sorry, but I feel that it is my fault."

The Templar listened to Collux as he explained his guilt, though unlike before, there was no anger. She stood there, listening to what he had to say, before bowing her head as he finished speaking. "That doesn't matter now. The blame is on Lokka, not you. And you've already done so much to make up for past mistakes. The others might not be as understanding, but I'll sort them out. All that's important is that you know that this was not your fault. You are not to blame here, my friend - something I'm sure Scarlet would agree with."

Collux had been confused about how accepting people had become of him, maybe it was because of Vintermorgen and Beast, but he had been of near Chosen status. "After all the deaths during my missions: Richter, Julian, Diego and Scarlett. Even after people believed me to have called Advent out of the sky and tell them where we were? After all this, all my flaws, after capturing the commander in the first place, you still accept me? How?"

Placing a hand on Collux' shoulder, Kohlla formed a small smile as she looked straight across to him. "Collux, I accept you because I see you for who you are. I can sense emotions, intentions, something that so few other people can do. That allows me to look past what everyone else sees, and lets me see you for who you are. And whilst your life is one laden with guilt, I know that you are trying to make amends. That is why I accept you."

Collux drew her into another embrace. "Thank you Colonel. Last time we spoke I felt that I was truly at home with the people here. Now I feel like I have a family again." He took out a small piece of polished metal with a symbol on it depicting a snake, a lion, a badger and a raven, the light glinted on it as he held it aloft. "Recently I found out that I had not actually killed my sister, I had left her to bleed out after being mind controlled to slaughter the rest of my family. I found a photo of this symbol in some archives, but I had no recollection of what it was until I talked to Damon about it." He showed it to Kohlla. "I will hopefully see her again, so I made this for her in the eventuality. What do you think?"

Being pulled into the hug with a smile, Kohlla pulled away a few moments later, shifting her gaze to the piece of metal and quickly scanning over the symbol before looking up to Collux. "I too hope that you see her again. If you need help finding her, just ask."

"I will, thank you. I'm unsure how she'll respond to me looking different and my attempt on her life, but I'm sure it will all work out." Collux changed the conversation "How have you been since we talked last?"

"I would say that I've been well... but that's a lie. I..We've lost so much.. so many people. I'm tired of losing them Collux. I'm tired of losing friends." She admitted, her voice bearing a softness and vulnerability that was so rare for the Templar that it might as well have been a myth to hear her so exposed.

"I suppose you may have heard that I confined myself to my quarters until my last mission, so I've not been doing so well either." Suddenly Collux stood solid before his friend, set his jaw and rose to his full height. "Then we will do our bit as Colonel's by protecting our team as best we can by keeping them safe in the field. It is the least we can do."

Kohlla bowed her head as Collux stood before her, and then began to speak. "Yes, it is our duty."

Collux reached out to touch her face, lifting her chin up so she was looking up at him. "You're bravery, courage and loyalty, you need not bow to me. You bow to none."

The Templar smiled once more as her gaze was lifted to meet Collux'. "Thank you. I get my strength from my friends."

"You look like you've been training for hours." Collux said, noticing the sweat for the first time on Kohlla's brow. "Did you want to get a bite to eat in the mess hall?"

"Sure, lead the way."

Collux and Kohlla made their way through the ship, it's engines still humming as they walked side by side silently, but content. They knew that the other had their back in a time of crisis and that they could trust each other implicitly. The dim lights of the Avenger lit their journey up to the mess hall. They heard the sounds of people starting to wake up and doing general care taking of the ship around them, tinkering and pottering around. The heavy clunk of Collux's boots on the metallic floor of the hallways and the mechanical whirring of Kohlla's mechanical arm as they rounded the corner to the mess hall. The sounds and smells of breakfast filling their senses. Collux felt that today was going to be a good day.


	65. Ep 64 - Operation Laughing Serpent

**Ep 64-----Operation Laughing Serpent-------------------------------------------------**  
\- Recording Starting –

Hunter Peterson's Log #10

Out of the frying pan and into the fire. Three missions in a row. I’ll be honest, I’m a little tired. I like the action though. Keeps things interesting, but it would be nice to relax a bit after this. I hate these rescue type missions. Too much happening, too much to look out for. If it weren’t for the resistance members on site, it would have been a whole lot harder and we would have lost a lot more civilians. So props to them.

We had a lot of muscle to get through, a lot of Mutons were deployed, but the resistance members distracted them long enough for us to move in and help clear them out, even though one of them got a good hit on Rodats and knocked him right out. Kind of blame myself for that one, I had a good shot lined up but didn’t hit the soft spots that would have downed the Muton in time. Luckily Blazkivitz finished it off before it could do any more damage.

Everything else past this point is a little hazy for me. A Boa wrapped me up for a good while. Couldn’t hear a lot through my gear and the Boa, but the rest of the team cleared out most of the remaining enemies, and I got freed from the Boa just in time to kill one of stragglers. Jenny and I netted promotions. Got some extra training in CQC, which suits me fine. Don’t get to use my blade too often, here’s hoping I get the chance soon.

Getting back from missions has been much more different from when I first started. It used to be I hobbled off the Skyranger and down to the med bay by myself and just waited for the next call. Never wanted to make friends. Now, in this scenario, Jenny and I get off the Skyranger, we have our little banter then Kebab shows to welcome me back. It nice, it feels like I have a reason to not die on a mission. Before, I wasn’t too particularly worried about getting killed out there, I mean, I wasn’t trying to die, just if I had to die to complete our objective I would have been totally fine with it. No hesitation. Now, I don’t know. Having something to return to is a new factor I’m not used to dealing with. Plus, Kebab would be pissed at me if I died. I’d never live that down.

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Journal Entry 32#   
Name: Will 'Billy-Terror' Blazkivitz   
Date: 14th April 2036   
Operation: Laughing Serpent

ADVENT sure aren't giving us a break, are they? Attacking another Resistance camp, being sent in with Doc, Rodats, Addy, Vagabond and even SPARKY. Half of us are wearing suits made from the skins of our dead enemies, cool shit, apparently mine can fly but to be honest I miss the spiderman grappling hook. Guess I get to be Superman with a high powered sniper rifle instead. 

We touch down and same old, same old, fire and gunfire before us. Rodats scouts up ahead and finds two Alien kill teams, a Berserker Prime with a Berserker pal than a Muton Prime with two Sectoid Soldier escorts. I'm given orders to engage the Berserker Prime, well who am I to say no as it's kinda hard to miss? Immediately the bitch runs towards where I took the shot to which Doc then blows both it and the normal Berserker with a plasma bomb before SPARKY steps up and puts down the Berserker Prime. With it, dead Vagabond and Addy work together to kill the smaller bitch with Addy getting the kill with the Boltcaster.

The other Prime with Sectoids finds some Resistance fighters and takes cover, the fighters though lay a couple of shots forcing the Prime towards us which in turns, the Prime shows to now like the fact we're wearing his Queen's skin before trying to fire on one of the Sectoids. Vagabond moves up and decides to put the second Prime out of his misery with one shot of his Stormgun. Meanwhile, I take to the skies and land on a higher level above the Sectoids, as cool as it was to fly without Firebrand it meant jack shit as I couldn't see them. Doc comes in with an assist blowing up the two freaks onto ground level while missing yours truly here.

SPARKY spies one of the Sectoids and takes a shot but it misses to which the alien freak fire back, SPARKY makes some angry beeps forcing the Sectoid to flee right into my sights. Easiest kill in my life as my shot hits true before it could reach any cover. Save the one-offs, I guess I'll do it right. The other Sectoid goes for a civvie as it knew it's time was up because a Resistance fighter guns down the freak saving the others.

With them down I take a new vantage point as the team makes there way towards the civilians, Rodats stumbles past a Faceless which does reveal him but luckily no one else was around to spot him, especially after I put down the fleshy fridge with one shot. Two Boas and a Firestarter Prime find Rodats with the Resistance fighters, the Prime charges ahead taking gunfire but panics when it spies Vagabond like the other Prime, these suits are awesome. Meanwhile one of the Boas takes some serious gunfire as two fighters wound the large snake lady badly.

SPARKY takes a shot at the Prime to which even panicked runs towards Rodats, as Addy takes a shot at the wounded Boa and misses, Vagabond tries to assist Rodats by blasting the Prime. The big bitch survives before pummeling Rodats into unconsciousness. I wasn't having any of that shit as I aimed down my shits and put the Prime down for good, afterwards I throw out our turret buddy to help support the team, to which it even hits the wounded Boa. Meanwhile, Doc goes into overwatch.

Then a shitstorm happens, the wounded Boa panics seeing the Serpent suit, the other tongue grabs Vagabond and bounds him up. A Berserker Prime spots us but then runs in fear seeing our R.A.G.E suit forcing two Mutons to assist it then another Berserker Prime comes in escorted by THREE Boas. What a FUBAR situation as the Resistance Fighters do what they can fight off the invaders.

Sparky starts things off by killing the panicking Boa with a shot before shooting the Berserker shitting herself, then the bot ends up using it's shredstorm cannon killing another Boa while hitting both Primes. To which they both run towards where Rodats was laying down on the ground. Meanwhile our turret pal flanks the Boa binding Vagabond but one clear shot wasn't enough to free him, these bitches were more clingy than the usual snakes. I set up a Killzone as Addy puts down one Prime and Doc freezes the other. 

Unfortunately, the two Mutons focus on the civvies were trying to save and guns two of them down,. Meanwhile I spy two Boas moving and try my luck, these botches though were much harder to hit than your usual snake though, luckily one panicked from the Serpent suit one of us wore. The Resistance Fighters try to help but most waste their ammo on one panicking snake while one gets smart and kills a Muton.

At this point SPARKY, our Turret pal and Doc gun down the Boa holding Vagabond to which our Ranger gets to high ground with sets on the other Muton. With his Stormgun it puts down the Alien as I aim right the head of the frozen Prime, seriously wounding it allowing Jenny to get the kill. Only two Boas left now and one shitting herself silly.

Sparky gets a shot in on the panicking one with some of the Resistance fighters and at this moment Addy sends her bot to revive Rodats to, he was pissed, as he gets into a spot and seriously wound one of the Boas nearly killing it. I decide to show how it's done though. First, I aim my plasma lance right at the first Boa and take her down, then, I fly over the entire team and get behind the second Boa, heh, job hazards... Anyway, like an action hero from my movie career, I take out my plasma pistol and finish the Boa while saying “Get some!” 

Mission accomplished, we couldn't save them all but we did our best considering ADVENT hit hard this time, we were giving a heroes send off and I get to have new stories to tell the gang. Flying is fucking sweet, though I will miss spiderman swinging, that was cool too, Signing off.

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Julian's log

XCOM database

Log eighteen

Finally, a chance to continue this. To those who are reading these logs I must offer my apologies for the lack of updates. My slowness was caused mostly from the multiple missions and a few glitches caused by issues with my emotional capacitors but the fleshlings engineers assure me this has been resolved and my free time shall remain without error. Now on to the mission. All in all this mission was a return to our previous winning streak. Upon dropping in. We were met with two patrols with one holding a prime. A barrage of shots later both lay dead the prime done in by yours truly. Also do you remember the comment I made awhile back about wanting an advent skinsuit? Apparently the commander took my idea to heart! With three suits made from the ruling aliens it sent half of advents poor poor puppets scurrying for the hills. The sheer beauty of the scene brought a nonexistent tear to my eyes. Chatterbox even got a new toy with the Icarus armor which was half the reason for the barrage of kills the fleshlings racked up on the primes despite their targeting errors. The reaper was knocked out as well, a rare occurrence but he was up soon after. Beyond that the next few shots made this case pretty open and shut. The last enemy fell and we got the success we needed desperately after our failures. An open and shut mission that got our morale back on its feet.

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Personal Log #28, COLONEL Jenny Fleet - April 15, 2036

OK, wow, so there's a whole lot to talk about right now.

First off, I'm so excited. I finally got promoted to Colonel! It's been a long journey with a lot of ups and downs, but this is one of the proudest days of my life. To be counted among the best of the best. It's such an honor. And Vagabond got promoted to Captain as well.

Since the Commander has been taking out lower ranking people to give them experience, that means I may not be going out on many more missions now, which is the downside, but it's possible I might still go out to keep training with Vagabond at least. I guess I'll see.

I'm also excited that I got to go out on yet another mission. This time...I was assigned the serpent suit. I guess it could look worse. Vagabond was assigned the new RAGE suit, but they formed it up to make it look like more normal armor. I think BJ might have been the silliest looking of us going out with that Archon armor, though.

These suits sure came in handy, though, as multiple Mutons, Berserkers, and Boas were panicked on sight of them, which is good because there were a lot of them out there. Vagabond got constricted by a Boa for a while, but luckily it didn't hurt him too much. Otherwise, the resistance fighters and our team actually did pretty short work of the enemies out there. BJ was just insane flying all over the camp in his fancy new suit as well.

Vagabond is going to have to spend a few days in the infirmity but his injuries don't sound too bad, thankfully. With Mr. Bavaria's help I was able to bake some...not horrible cookies in the galley and brought him some as a treat, and I told him to get out soon so he can go out there and kick ass and get promoted again.

In the meantime, I've been working on my GREMLIN so that it can improve it's healing capabilities, with a little help from Gadget and Huntsman. Also, apparently we're in pretty dire need of some Elerium, so the Commander has asked us if we know any contacts that might know where to pick some up. I've sent a message to some people I know back in Europe, but who knows if they'll respond or if they can help us even if they wanted to.

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Firebrand's personal log - April 20th 2036 (Entry #62)

It was a problematic mission at the Resistance camp. Berserker Primes, Boas, Muton Prime. The squad handled it quite well, even with the Commander's blunders. Again. He just doesn't seem to learn from his mistakes. It is getting rather irritating at times. No, really ... Central, find the man a woman. Not having one, that is a very probable source of problems. Never underestimate the prime needs. Pun not intended.

Time seemed to pass quite fast before a new mission came along. If he doesn't get his stuff in order, I swear I'll call in sick one day and let someone else do the flying. Because I am getting on a verge of a nervous breakdown here.

Anyway ... neutralizing an ADVENT General. Go get'im, Menace 1-5.

Firebrand out.

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Damon Nights’ Audio Log: April 21st, 2036  
I almost forgot what the latest mission was, but the case files reveal all, and it turned out to be a resistance haven assault, which never really go down well. As to be expected, upon landing, Rodats was sent out to do some scouting. He was able to spot several Alien groups, both of which contained Primes. Blazkivitz took aim and shot at the Prime in the first group, which was made up of a normal Berserker and a Berserker Prime, this angered the Prime, but it also set the thing on fire, which certainly made the fight easier. Both of the things were killed with relative ease, I won’t make another comment about how weak the Primes seem to be, just to avoid jinxing XCOM again. This time however, the other Alien group stumbled upon the squad, instead of waiting to be ambushed like a good little Alien. Something amazing happened, the Muton Prime noticed that ‘Vagabond’ was wearing the Rage suit, and he freaked out! Not only did he run for cover, but he also got so scared and confused that he started shooting at his allies! He fell pretty quickly as well, leaving the Sectoids on their own. Julian and Blazkivitz did a pretty nice combo, when one of the Sectoids shot at Julian, he was able to scare it right into Blazkivitz path, allowing him to deliver the finishing blow. The other Sectoid was able to kill a civilian. Luckily there was a resistance operative right next to the Sectoid, able to kill it off before it could do any more harm. Rodats moved in on a large group of civilians, but when he ran passed one, he, or should I say it, revealed itself to be one of those disgusting Faceless monstrosities. It was a good thing Blazkivitz was able to see the damn thing, allowing him to shoot it down before it could kill any civilians. Rodats was able to spot, or hear I guess, the next threat, two Boas, and a Firestarter Prime, nothing you want charging towards a group of unarmed civilians. Oh my god, hell yes! It happened again! When the Firestarter charged in, it noticed the Rage suit as well, and went running off in fear! I really wish I had clipped that from the mission feed, I really do. Okay, well, the fun didn’t last too long, because the Firestarter “sobered” up enough to attack Rodats, knocking him out cold. Hah, Firestarter, knocking someone out “cold,” that’s kind of funny. Blazkivitz was back on it though, taking aim and felling the damn thing. I’m not sure what happened, but apparently someone spotted another Berserker Prime, along with two Mutons, coming towards the civilian host. Oh dear god, again! This time it was one of those Boas that ran in fear when it say the Serpent suit! This mission has been great so far, allowing everyone a bit of a laugh at the Aliens running in fear! The other Boa, did not run however, instead, it pulled ‘Vagabond’ and constricted him. Did someone call for another Berserker Prime? No? Well too bad, have another one! Not only did another Prime show up, but so too did three Boas. Okay, so maybe the mission hasn’t been going as well as I thought. At least another Berserker Prime panicked at the sight of the Rage suit. In an attempt to stop the two Primes from doing anything, ‘Doc’ accidentally froze a few civilians, this allowed the two Mutons to kill one civilian each. All right, so many things are panicking from the different suits that it’s getting hard to count, I don’t know if I’ll mention any others if I see them, there are just too many. It took a long time, but everything was eventually killed, without anymore civilian casualties to boot! This wasn’t our best haven rescue mission ever, but at least it wasn’t our worst.  
Once the squad returned, we spent some time with the Reapers, which allowed us access to some of their intel. During our little “break” the Shadow Chamber project finished, I can’t remember what it was about, oh wait, I wouldn’t know anyways, that research is “classified.” Well, it allowed the science division to continue working on churning out autopsies. After choosing a new autopsy, we went over to make contact with someone who claimed to have some items of interest for XCOM. Unsurprisingly, the autopsy finished, giving us access to Psionic weapons. After that, research was done on modular shotguns. It was back to searching for the person of interest after that. We had another interruption though, the return of the Covert operatives, who had managed to return with two Elerium Cores. After that, the next group, containing Collux, was sent out for more training with the factions. Oh yeah, I almost forgot, Jeb stopped by the other day asking for some tools. I was wondering why, but then he reminded me of the favor I owed him, so I was more than happy to stop by the engineering department and pick up what he needed, no questions asked.  
A little more searching was done, but we were interrupted for a third time. This one was for another Guerrilla Op. This Op involved taking out an Advent Field Commander, which is supposed to stop the Chosen Hunter from showing up more often. I’ve also heard news of a new kind of Prime. I wish everyone the best of luck, I feel like they’re going to need it.

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War recount 60

The team went out to defend a shanty camp under attack by Advent. In the beginning the Primes that were out were easy enough to kill but later into the mission things became much more hectic with many differing types of Primes showing up with their underlings. The only thing that was ultimately able to keep things in check at the end was the R.A.G.E. Suit and the Serpent Suit, many enemies upon seeing the skin of their champions being worn as pajama armor panicked and ran with one firing at his own team. The mission was an interesting thing to watch with BJ flying from place to place and Vagabond and Jenny scaring anything that saw them into running and cowering, occasionally behind citizens. The team eventually killed all the targets in area and we moved the survivors to another area. We had another Reaper op done and started one with the Skirmishers though nothing ultimately interesting happened. Though I did recently get tools thanks to a favor Damon in engineering owes me that I'm using to craft the Templar insignia, yeah that's what I'm doing it just sorta clicked when I saw the pauldron Pharaoh somehow sent me and the symbol on it. Speaking of which there's something going on with it, it just sorta has a feel to it that I can't describe. It's also bringing back old memories like it's looking for them, digging into my past in an attempt to learn. It was able to make me remember where I put my ring, I haven't been able to find the thing since I first found my way onto the Avenger and downed a lot at the bar to counteract the withdrawal I was having. I have already melted down the other metals and they're forging easy enough but I'm not melting the pauldron just yet I wanna see what else it can dig up.  
Signing out  
Jebediah Primm

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Continuation:  
Damon Nights’ [Secret] Audio/Visual Log: Continued  
The door was opened by first guard for them. They were lead into a large room which was lit by many candles. Three of the four walls were lined with metal and rock deposits and samples of all different shapes, sizes and colours. Some of them were crystalline and glinted in the flickering candle light. At the far end was a roaring fire, but Collux could not see how the smoke was being vented. A few leather arm chairs were facing the fire in some grand fashion and there seemed to be some kind of furry creature on one of the chairs. "Some kind of rodent maybe?" Collux thought to himself. Finally in the centre of the room was a large desk or workstation. This is where a lady sat in her wheelchair, the light of her personal computer monitors were mirrored in her glasses. She looked up from her screens, pushed back some long dark hair behind her ear and spoke. "Greetings XCom, to what do we owe this pleasure?" This was a rhetorical question because she didn't pause for an answer. "Come sit, I had word from Central that there maybe people coming to see us this evening, even if one of you is a Skirmisher. Can I get you a drink?" She wheeled herself over to the chairs where a concealed cabinet was and poured out three glasses of dark, brown liquid.  
Damon accepts the the seat, but when it comes to the drink, he doesn't deny the offer, but neither does he touch it. "I didn't realize Central had sent a forward concerning our visit." Damon mutters under his breath. "Uhm, right, pleasantries." "I am Second Engineering Officer Damon Nights (here Damon gestures to himself), and this is my good friend Colonel Collux (at this point he gestures towards Collux). And I assume you are Ms. Amy Woodget?"  
"Doctor Woodget." She says sharply, nearly cutting Damon off. Collux sits down next to Damon. "But yes, that is correct. You've seen my Market on your way through. What do you make of it?"  
Damon appears slightly taken aback at the sudden remark, but he quickly recovers. "It is remarkable! I don't really know what I expected before coming here, but it certainly wasn't this. The diversity of this market is spectacular, people from all corners of the planet coming here sell their wares, and I assume some are just here for asylum. Hell, even the amount of goods being sold here is astounding."  
"Thank you. We do good trades with whomever is against the Advent menace." She looked at Collux with her piercing blue eyes, narrowed, taking him in. "So, what news from Bradford the Bull, Ex-Advent Dr Tygan and the Genius tyke Shen then?" His sister's snide comments cut through the air like a sharp knife and Collux could feel an anger rise in Damon that he'd not seen or noticed before. He put his arm on his friends shoulder and spoke. "Unfortunately, it's the other way around. We have heard that your analysis skills are second to none, Doctor. So Central... No, so we were wondering if you could analyse these files for us. It will not take but a moment of your time, and we can pay handsomely for it."  
Damon takes a few deep breaths in hopes of calming himself, before rummaging through the pouches on his belt. He looks up confused before turning to Collux and whispers: "You want me to hand her Ana's drive, right?"  
"Yes, sir." Collux responded to his superior. Amy seemed surprised that Damon hadn't answered for himself, but she just sat back in he wheelchair smiling. "How much are you offering? My time is very valuable." Collux took off his helmet to reveal his Skirmisher like face and then took out a bunch of credit chips equal to well over two thousand credits, all the pay he had gotten from his XCom exploits, and a few other data chips. The Doctor raised her eyebrows. "Colonel... Collux, was it? I've heard of you. I heard how you mowed down XCom's troops, killing billions of innocent lives. Your mindless killing is what brought us down here in the first place. You made us go underground and into hiding. You even gave the Elder's the Commander and he was the only thing standing in their way." Collux blinked and retorted back. "I have resolved this issue. It was through my intel and information that the Reaper 'Dragunova' was able to extract him and put XCom back on the map again." Amy weighed up the argument, she must have decided that it was worth her time. "That's a lot of money you have there Colonel, where did it come from?" Amy replied again, she seemed to be very politician like, deflecting and using counter points trying to find her advantage, but Collux gave her no ground. "It is a debt I should have paid long ago. Having your mind is a gift, mine was taken away and before I knew it my world had crashed down around me and all the ones I had loved were gone. Will you do this for us?" Amy nods and Damon hands her two data chips.  
Damon nods his thanks to Collux, before handing Dr. Woodget the two drives, describing them both while Dr. Woodget prepares to review them on her computer. "Okay then ma'am, the first drive contains, what I assume to be, the work of a scientist named Ana Stein, who I believed worked with you under or with Dr. Vahlen, it also contains her video diaries." As Damon mentions Ana with a false pretense of not knowing her, Ana scoffs, to the best of her robotic abilities. This causes Damon to jump slightly, barely noticeable unless someone was paying attention. "Erm, right, the second one is a bit more...personal, to you that is, I'll let you discover its contents on your own.  
Amy flicks through the first of the chips, analysing the data with her eyes before anything else. "These are not just her video diaries, this is most of her research. Look at this." Damon and Collux look over her shoulders on to her monitors. "If I put in a code word, it opens up a hidden folder with her entire work, blueprints, experiments and discoveries. Too bad she wasn't much of a scientist, otherwise she would have noticed to use iron instead of titanium to make this harness." She points to the blueprint in front of her. Collux didn't understand it very much, but what he did understand was that it was the harness of an early prototype of the Gremlin that was carried onto the field on the back of a soldier, and then flown via a wireless connection from the soldiers position. Ana comes to take a look too.  
At the mention of Ana not being much of a scientist, a quiet voice can be heard saying: "Thanks Amy, love you too, but at least when I was injured I didn't lose use of my legs." Damon glances up at Ana, and tries to get her to quiet down, before Dr. Woodget notices. Sadly, Ana made her comment just loud enough to be overheard, and Damon's movements weren't very subtle.  
"Pardon!?" Amy stopped what she was doing and looked around, confused, to the Gremlin. Then she rose her eyebrows again. "So you Gremlin's speak at XCom, do they, Second Engineering Officer? I should quite like to know why they have been programmed with such snide comments."  
Damon looks towards Collux, unsure how to deal with this awkward situation. "Um, well, GREMLINS can't normally speak, and this one wasn't...well, she (Damon puts emphasis on the word "she") wasn't programmed by us so to say. She actually is, more or less, what remains of Ana Stein. Ana programmed a true A.I. based off herself. This circumstance is equivalent to a person downloading their brain to a computer."  
For the first time during their meeting, Amy's features softened. "Ana? Is that really you?"  
Ana replies in a much softer, happier tone. "In the flesh, or as close as I'm able to be. It's wonderful to see you again Amy."  
"Oh my..." A tear rolled down Amy's face. "Well, being able to transfer someone's thoughts from their brain to a machine is exciting news indeed." Amy and Ana then chatted away, talking about Ana's research and ways in which she could help XCom further especially with their abundance of resources and funding. Collux didn't pick up what they were saying so he sat down in the chair next to the fire. The furry creature looked up at him and mewed. It was a black feline creature with white paws and an underbelly, although cybernetically advanced with a prosthetic leg, similar to the design of Kohlla's arm, and a camera eye. It jumped down off the chair it had been sleeping on and leaped up onto Collux's lap and went to sleep. After a few minutes of gushing over one another about their exploits with Dr Vahlen and thereafter Amy turned to Damon. "Tell me, Officer, is this the only bit of exciting news to fill my heart with joy today, or is there more?"  
Damon glances nervously over to Collux. "I think the next piece of news should be told by my friend, and uhm, I'm not sure how it will make you feel." He gestures for Collux to return to the table. "I don't really know which he would rather you start with, what he has to say, or the other data file, so I'll let him take over now." Damon steps back from the table and returns to his original seat. "I don't feel like I should intrude on this."  
There is a stunning silence as Amy looks around to Collux, confused. She then motions to the cat lying on Collux's lap. "That's Darwin. He doesn't like many people, and he usually doesn't like sleeping on people's laps either." Collux scoops up the cat to get up and gingerly puts him back down on the other chair. The cat mews again, rubs his head against Collux's hand and then rolls over. "There was only a few people who he would do that for." Amy said, a frown now on her face. "Open up the files and see for yourself." First she opened up the picture file of her and a man with her letter which on the top is the symbol with a lion, a snake, a badger and a raven. "This was from Christmas 2017, a whole 20 years ago. Maybe the video file will provide more evidence of this." Then she clicked the video. Damon hadn't seen this video before, so this was new to him as well. The video started with a middle aged man, perhaps late 40s, talking to a younger man, of 30 or so. They were laughing and chatting away. The doorbell rang and younger man left the room to see who was at the door. The older man lost his balance, rubbed his eyes and took out a knife from his sock. He heard the young man coming back into the room so he waited behind the door to ambush him. It worked and the older man brought the knife down into the younger man's chest, time and time again. Blood cascading down onto the floor, the young man grew weaker and then his arms flopped down to the ground. The older man kept going, making sure that the whole body had been cut open. A door opened in the distance and the older man looked around, revealing that he had a pistol on his person too. The camera angle changes to see Amy running away from the front door to a house while a pistol fires. The older man can be seen in the foreground leveling his pistol at her. He shoots and her body drops. Amy turned away from the screen, tears rolling down her face. "Why have you shown me my nephew's death and my brother attempting to murder me?" "I know it hurts, but just keep watching." Collux said to her. Amy pressed play on the computer and watched as the older man walks away into the distance about to get into an Advent troop aircraft. Then, out of a bush comes a Sectoid. Sneaking up behind the older man, a purple aura emanating from the alien's head leading into the older man's. As the Sectoid draws nearer to the man he crumples to the ground and is carried onto the aircraft. "He was mind controlled!? But that means... it wasn't him who tried to kill us... it was... the Elders!" Amy said tearful and confused. "I retained all that I saw that day, but I was unable to stop myself from killing my nephew and attempting to kill my older sister." Amy looked wide eyed at Collux, for the first time thinking something impossible. Then he took out the small, polished-metal bookmark with the symbol of the lion, the snake, the badger and the raven. "Will?" Amy said in disbelief. "I am sorry for taking everything away from you sister." Collux replied. "Your life... your legs... Our nephew..." Amy wheeled herself over to where Collux stood and she tentatively stood up herself. Then she slapped him in the face. There was a silent pause for a moment, where only the crackles of the fire could be heard in the background. Then she embraced him, tears streaming down her face. After a few moments they broke apart and Collux wiped the tears from her face. Amy wobbled a little, so Collux lowered her back into her wheelchair. "I forgive you, brother, and it seems XCom has as well."  
Damon stares wide-eyed at the exchange. He's happy for his friend, but unable to think of anything to say at the time, so he mutters to himself: "Huh, Collux is older than I thought." Eventually, he remembers how to speak, but he doesn't want to interrupt this touching family reunion, so he turns to Ana and whispers. "Isn't this great? I mean, you and Amy got to reconnect, and Amy forgave Collux! That has got to have taken a great weight off his shoulders. I'm going to have to ask Amy if there is any way that you three can stay in contact."  
"Unfortunately I go only by the name that Advent gave me, in the hopes of atoning for what I have done with Advent. But I made this for you, sister. I will have to return back to the Avenger with the Second Officer and Ana, but I should very much like to keep in touch with you." Collux told his sister, giving her the metal bookmark. Darwin the cat was now napping happily on her lap, it's purr almost like the sound of a motorbike engine. "Yes, keeping in touch would be my wish too. Here;" She took out a data chip and pressed it into Collux hand. "Use any radio you like, this code allows you to communicate with me directly. Ana you can use it too if you wish." She turned to Ana. "Do you remember that person I talked to you about? She hunts with the Reapers and Templars on occasion."  
Upon noticing the exchange of the data chip, Damon shrugs and says to Ana: "I guess that's that problem solved." He then looks towards Amy. "If you don't mind me asking, who is this person you're talking about? I guess it might be personal, and if that's the case, you don't have to tell me anything, but I'm a little bit curious."  
Ana totally ignored Damon, for the first time since she had been discovered as intelligent AI. "Oh, the one that went by the name of Dawn Strike?" Amy nodded "The very same. We hired her as a bodyguard here some time ago. Great aptitude for Psionics, and an intelligent young lady too. She went out on a mission a while back, she's due to come in some day now. We picked up a transmission from Dr Vahlen a few days ago stating that she needed some assistance, so we sent her in to help. In fact her mission was to find out what had happened to Dr Vahlen and escort her back if able. From there we were going to help the good Doctor back to XCom to carry on her work and provide a secondary scientific mind where she could." Amy's tone was back to business again. "Do you remember her real name?" Ana asked curiously. "Yes," Replied Amy. "She went by the name Drays... No, Days. She was called Chloe Days."  
Damon stares at Amy, astounded. "Excuse me, but did you happen to say Chloe Days? Do you, um, do you happen to know how I might get in contact with her?  
"Get in contact with her? Why would you... Oh never mind. Yes, if you contact me once you get back to the Avenger I'm sure she'll be back here by then." Amy replied. "Why what do you want with her?"  
"Why do I want to? Oh, right, sorry about that." Damon replies with nervous excitement. "She was, no wait, she is my fiancée. I haven't heard from her in years, not since I went hiding and joined XCOM. Though I guess that's understandable, she probably thought I died in the Chosen Assassin's raid on the lab Ana and I worked at."  
"I'll let her know you are alive, and next time XCom come back I will send her over with you, I'm sure she'd prefer to be with her fiancée rather than us. It's the least I could do. And thank you for helping my brother and I see each other again. I haven't seen him for a very long time and I had been angry with him for the wrong reasons. Please, feel free to contact me on that personal com channel I gave to Ana and Will... I mean Collux."  
"Thank you very much Dr. Woodget, I don't know if I'll ever be able to repay you for this. And you're welcome, Collux has done so much for me, this was something I had to help him with."  
"Now, if I am correct, you're shuttle will be leaving in just under fifteen minutes. You better hurry or you'll miss it. Godspeed Officer Nights, Ana. Brother, take care of them." Amy wheels herself over to the entrance they came in from and knocked on the door twice. "Ma'am" Said a heavy Russian accent from the other side of the door. "There are two men and a Gremlin in here with me, they are to be escorted out of the Market and onto the XCom transport. If any of them come to harm it will be your head and everyone's head in your platoon. Understand?" Amy said in a commanding voice. "Yes Ma'am, crystal clear." Said the Russian voice again.  
Damon attempts to offer Amy a salute, before walking out the door. "It was a pleasure meeting you Dr. Woodget, I'm glad you and Collux were able to reconcile, and I can't thank you enough for your help."  
Collux, Damon and Ana were shuffled from Amy's room back the way they came, but they didn't go through the market this time, they went down some back tunnels and ended up in the hanger bay after a few ramps and stairways. They saw the XCom troop ship and departed. "I would say this was a good mission. My sister reconciled and alive, your fiancée found alive and you can contact her soon and Ana's work all intact. What do you say, Damon?" Collux said as they took off and the hatch opened up above them.  
"I have to agree with you buddy. Today has been a pretty good day. And hey, your sister didn't take the news too badly either, you only got slapped in the face once." Damon says the last line with a cheeky grin.  
"Ha ha. Yeah..." Collux smiled, his eyes drifted away as Damon started talking to Ana about her work and what project she may be working on. Collux caught a glimpse of a shooting star. In the customs of humans, long ago, there was once one where if you made a vow, a wish or a prayer it would be answered if you saw a shooting star. He had just wished that everything would have a happy ending. He would have to wait and see, but it certainly seemed like this ending could be the one he had wished for.

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DISPLAY LOG (ROV-R)  
<2225:22 14.04.2036> Despite dissecting every Codex brain in our inventory, I am no closer to finding the origin of the Avatar that appeared after skulljacking…or the ghostly figure seen hovering behind it in some frames.  
<2225:30 14.04.2036> I have been analyzing combat footage and have come to a disturbing conclusion.  
<2225:34 14.04.2036> Some enemy units are not fully present in this reality.  
<2225:38 14.04.2036> The physical remains of destroyed Specters consist of a collective of nanomachines. They create shadowy copies of soldiers while the original is knocked unconscious.  
<2225:47 14.04.2036> They cannot be hacked. They are not organic either.  
<2225:53 14.04.2036> Their consciousness lies somewhere else.  
<2225:57 14.04.2036> Wherever that is, it is incompatible with organic consciousness.  
<2226:03 14.04.2036> This must be where the Elders lurk. Beyond the Gate. There be dragons.  
<2226:10 14.04.2036> Meanwhile, if Col. DeShong told anyone what he caught me doing, they have not tried to stop me. Lily is spending more and more time in the Shadow Chamber when not building something for the Commander, examining the Gate.  
<2226:21 14.04.2036> Sooner or later, I know we will have to confront the Elders and their Avatars. I must tell Lily that no matter what….we cannot send an organic through first!


	66. Ep 65 - Operation Driving Giant

**Ep 65-----Operation Driving Giant--------------------------------------------------------**  
Log 33: Zoey “Kohlla” Durand  
21/04/2036  
\--- Post-Mission  
Today we faced ADVENT’s newest abomination - the Gatekeeper Prime. Or as everyone else is calling it “The Golfball Prime”. The mission was a success, but it seems like the Elders aren’t running it out of monstrosities to concoct. That creature’s ability to raise zombie after zombie is nothing short of worrying, but at least we managed to destroy it. But I can only imagine that the Elders have more to spare.

Our target was an ADVENT General, hiding deep in the abandoned ADVENT rail network. We roped in from the Skyranger down into the system via a manhole, deploying entirely unseen by a small cadre of Aliens and ADVENT Troops. We didn’t have the element of surprise for long however - as Doc led the way with an explosive blast. Amidst the chaos, I charged into the fray, and ripped my blades into one of the Mutons. The battle was so furious that it barely had time to register my approach, and it didn’t even get the chance to retaliate with it’s bayonet before my blades were deep in its neck. The creature roared with pain, which I extracted into my gauntlets, empowering them with its agony. Magnusson charged past me in a blur, slamming one of the Vipers to the ground with his fists before cutting it to pieces. One of the Vipers that did survive however, a Magma Viper, blasted me with a ball of flame, searing my armour and my skin. I fought off the pain for a few moments, and used it to focus my efforts, slashing through the Viper responsible with Beast’s aid. The creature’s death was satisfactory enough to grant me a burst of focus energy, bringing me to full strength.

We pushed forward, locating the General, who was hiding next to his evac point. I conjured my energies into a powerful blast that ripped the General from his hiding spot, bringing him into Beast’s firing line. Right as that occurred, I felt a sneaking psionic presence, slowly growing closer - and I should’ve known the moment one of the ADVENT Troopers was raised as a zombie. The Gatekeeper Prime burst through the wall, hovering above the fresh corpse of the ADVENT General it had been sent to protect. Seeing the creature, I rushed into action, and drove my blades deep into the body of one of the ADVENT Assault Troopers. It’s mind raced with thoughts of agony, which I eagerly drank in. Now all that remained was the Gatekeeper Prime - and it’s army of undead minions. The former surged towards me, loosing a blast of energy towards my person. I quickly parried it away, before delivering a strike that tore into it’s spherical shell. Much like the Gatekeepers before it, the Prime’s enhanced psionic capabilities made it far more sensitive to pain than any other of the Elder’s pets, and the taste of it’s agony was so tantalizing that I was encouraged to tear into it once more. It reacted with a burst of energy that redirected back into it, and managed to just barely weave out of the way of the next. The one that followed was once again sent back into its shell, though I was not fortunate enough to evade it’s final strike, and thus it tore into my body. Regardless, the Gatekeeper Prime fell moments later, and it’s death released and outpouring of psionic energy that flooded into me. It was a raw surge of agony, the creature’s death throes, and feeling it produced nothing short of raw ecstasy. To see that creature die was a reward. To feel it die was even more so. We toppled one of the Elder’s most psionic champions today, and it felt good.

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XCOM database  
Julian's log  
log nineteen

Begin log

Ahem. Greetings! I must beg the pardon of those who have realized that these logs are late but considering the amount of time I’ve been spending on missions it’s been rather difficult to keep up. Now on to today’s mission. The fleshlings made it "interesting” to say the least. We were sent in to assassinate an Advent field commander that served as an integral puppet to one of the Elder’s schemes that sought to compromise our project. Our drop point was into the underground and we attempted to use stealth until we found a group to assault. or we would have been stealthy if SOMEONE hadn't been yelling at the top of his lungs in Mandarin. What does it tell you about this member of the resistance that I, a machine made of several tons of intricate metal and circuits can move with less sound than a being that weighs less than a fraction of my own weight?! Alas my rage for the time was better focused on other things since we met with our first patrol, a muton, a viper, and a rocket trooper, plus a nest of fire vipers triggered by, "the Eternal" though I must admit him blowing away the rocket trooper with a single shot did earn him some credit. From there a leap to the roof of the train and an overdrive claimed me the first taste of Advent blood this outing, and watching that snake squirm as the last breath was squeezed from its lungs was in fact a sight to behold! though of course the resistance member missed his shot first try no offense to the man but he doesn't have our level of training for this. Lucky for them, the rest of us did and I got to witness the famous rage strike first hand. Of course the vipers had to ruin our moment with a firestorm, lucky me I'm made of metal hmm? Of course Beast and the others’ blades also contributed. We then had the exit in our sight, and in a brilliant tactical maneuver from the commander we decided to take express ownership of the zone, though that bugger just kept screaming. Though as if in a twist of fate, the scattered Advent puppets were separated from their commander, and we took the advantage with an opening grenade shot and Beast dragged him to the high ground, keeping him there. I even got to use Walter’s bombard to break a sniper out of cover and the newbie screamed a battle cry and destroyed one of the advent members. Oddly enough however he refused to stay dead. Eternal however, assured the commander would be quite a different case. Alas it seemed our troubles were not over, as we discovered a new enemy: a gatekeeper prime. The fight was on. While I got to use my new punch strike to wipe out both a zombie and a sniper though the second was with bullets. Magnusson then wiped out the last of the normal group and it was then only us and the golf ball. And a frost bomb from the fleshling called Doc was what we needed taking down the zombie and keeping the prime still. Kohlla and iI got up close and personal and both shredded its armor while she deflected its shots twice from there the prime was destroyed by the disruptor rifle. And our mission is over. The next, a VIP extraction, awaits me.

Julian out.

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Firebrand's personal log - April 29th 2036 (Entry #63)

The Gatekeeper Prime ... quite intimidating, from what the team has mentioned. Nonetheless, they really took care of business well enough. Kohlla had a close call though. Why on Earth would the Commander just leave her in such close proximity to that giant Golfball? Another blunder to add to his account. Might've been several others too, but this was probably the biggest one.

Oh, speaking of which ... Commander, I know you're reading this. I just know, OK? So I've kept in contact with some of the people at the Black Market. It seems your latest purchase spree there has drawn in some attention. The ... wanted kind of attention. I'll get to the point. Her callsign is ... Red Plasma. She wanted me to tell you that you're welcome back anytime at her counter. For weapon upgrades or ... other things. I believe I don't need to spell it out for you, do I, Commander? ... I didn't think so. My advice? Take up that last offer.

Maybe I should too, come to think of it. Except I haven't really had such ... generous offers. Maybe I should take another shower. An icy one.

After the next mission, I guess. VIP extraction ... Luckily, I just finished maintenance an hour ago. Let's fire up those engines.

Firebrand out.

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Personal Log #29, Colonel Jenny Fleet - April 20, 2036

The Commander decided to give me a break after my promotion on this latest mission, so I watched it on the bridge with Vagabond. This time the mission was to neutralize a field commander, which it is always a joy to take down one of those general bastards.

The team encountered a trio of squads, including several inferno and flame vipers. They were able to dispatch of them fairly easily, although not without Kohlla, Beast, and Magnusson briefly getting caught on fire. Luckily no one took too much damage.

The team then approached the General pick-up point and found him along with a sniper and a Duelist. Julian, Numbers, and a resistance soldier that joined the team took care of the sniper while Beast and Magnusson killed the General.

Then the big boy showed up: a Gatekeeper Prime. We haven't seen this one before, and it took a pretty big chunk out out of Kohlla while the team was trying to take it down. Luckily Numbers' disrupter and it's anti-psionic ammo was able to do the job to finish it.

Kohlla is going to be out for over two weeks, but I'm confident we have enough skilled soldiers that we can get by without her for a little while, at least.

Personal Log #30, Colonel Jenny Fleet - April 25, 2036

First thing this morning I got a message from Chief Engineer Shen. Apparently she wanted my help in making some modifications to a GREMLIN in her lab. She told me it's a top secret, need to know project, though, so I gotta keep my lips sealed on this one outside of my log. I wonder what project she might need my help on.

Meanwhile, we're still scrounging around for elerium. No one has heard from any of their contacts about anywhere we might be able to get some. We apparently really need them to make some upgrades.

Vagabond also got put into the hellhole that is "Negative Trait Therapy," so I won't be seeing him very much for several days since visiting is pretty strictly regulated per doctor's orders during that process. Maybe I can see if I can somehow sneak in some goodies for him, though.

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Damon Nights’ Audio Log: April 29th, 2036  
Latest mission involved killing an Advent Field Commander, I don’t have anything I really want to talk about right now, so I’ll jump right into the mission review. This squad was met by a resistance officer, but let’s just hope we can keep this one alive. ‘Beast’ was sent ahead to scout, mostly because Rodats wasn’t there, and Skirmishers seem to be one of the only people capable of running for more than a few meters. He was able to find an Advent Captain, an Advent Mec, and two Aliens. Once most of the enemies were killed ‘Eternal’ was sent for some cover, but his movements were noticed by a group of three Vipers. A “highlight” of the Viper skirmish was when one spat out something the equivalent to natural napalm at Kohlla and ‘Beast.’ A little before the Vipers are killed, an Advent dropship sent down a flare to show the Field Commander where he should wait to be picked up. The Field Commander was found pretty damn close to his pick up zone, meaning the squad didn’t have much time before he left. The Field Commander was killed off pretty quickly, but before the squad could leave, they had to kill every other hostile in the area. One of those hostiles happened to be a Gatekeeper Prime, which seems to passively resurrect nearby corpses as Psi Zombies. I think this thing actually posed more of a threat than anything else we’ve seen so far. Luckily it was the last enemy in that location, because it brought Kohlla to death’s doors.  
One of the first things we did when the squad got back was to finish finding that one guy who promised us loot. Turns out he was from the old XCOM, which was pretty cool, to show our thanks, we pointed him towards the nearest resistance haven, would have given him a ride if we were heading that way. This time, instead of hanging with the Reapers, we spent some time with the Templars. I asked Shen if I could get some shore leave to ask around and see if anyone knew about Chloe, but she denied, saying that I needed to stay with the Templar medics to help Kohlla recover. Sigh. Maybe next time. While we were there the Avatar project neared its completion, again, but the month-thing ticked over and the Skirmishers were able to sabotage them. Council were unhappy with our progress, but I’m really starting to not give a damn anymore. Payday was coming up pretty soon, at least as soon as the Commander goes to pick up our supply drop. Holy shit! I totally forgot that the Reapers bring us our supply drops! That means I’ve been missing out on months of pay and haven’t even realized that, I should get onto that soon as soon as I’m done recording this. After our stay with the Templars, we went over to the Black Market, it’s cool to know that if I wanted to, I could get some lowered prices because I personally know the brother of the Black Market’s leader, not that I would abuse our relationship or anything. Speaking of relationships, I promised Collux I would plan some time for him and Vintermorgon to get together, they are bond mates after all, so it shouldn’t be too hard. Back to the Black Market. The Commander ordered a ton of building materials, Elerium Crystals and Alien Alloys, as well as a PCS chip, and some weapon upgrades. The Commander put all research on halt to complete more Shadow Projects, top secret stuff, Shen doesn’t even talk about them to me. Then we went back to the Templars, because Kohlla was still half dead, and I still have to help recover, actually, come to think of it, maybe she knows about Chloe? The Covert operatives came back with that training stuff, allowing another group to do more of the same. We’ve got a Psi Operative, but she’s a bit forgettable, no offense though, I just haven’t seen her around since she joined up, and hell, I don’t even remember her joining; I wonder whether she’s worth the effort, but I guess as long as she helps out in some way we’ll be fine.  
Council mission, yay. I really despise these things, they’re so boring, though to be fair the last two or so have been exciting. Got to say though, not really looking forward to it, seeing as we’ve lost two VIPs so far. Huh, guess the Commander can read my mind, because guess who showed up on this mission? The Psi Op, that’s who. I wish everyone the best of luck, including the two “newbies” who are going as well.

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War recount 61

The team performed another hit on an Advent general. There even was a refugee that showed up and didn't die, which is both a relief and has sent the "dead people on a mission" calendar above zero for the first time in awhile. The team eventually came upon "knot" of snakes, yeah that's what that's called, I don't really know where I learned that from. Eventually moving down the hall with the generals evac point right around the corner, they saw the general standing all by his lonesome, at least he was until his security team revealed the ambush they had created and how they had surrounded the team. For any normal squad of wannabe resistance fighters this could've been the end but this was a highly trained team, of professionals that consisted of our personal Terminator, an alien fighting against its own kind, and a lady with mind swords, among other trained professionals. Though, unnervingly some of Advents troops kept getting up as Psi Zombies. At first there was no rhyme or reason to it and no one knew why it was happening until the improved giant golf ball showed up went straight through the wall and straight at Kohlla. That's when the amazing happened, Kohlla took the first shot with her parry, then she sliced the things shell barely scratching it. Then with its next shot that too was deflected by her, the return fire from that also missed her. Another reflect and it finally lands a hit that Kohlla doesn't return to sender. This shot back on her did quite a number though as her diagnostics took a plunge into the red but Numbers was able to remedy that both with modern medicine and bullets. We visited the Templar HQ and in more personal news, I visited Pharaoh. During our first run down there we left almost immediately and I didn't get a chance to see her, but when the Commander was done with his shopping spree we returned and stayed for quite awhile. The main reason was to have the Templar medics get a look at our more seriously injured people and use their magic brain powers to get them out quicker. We ran around for awhile and since I don't have any friends off the Avenger I met hers. We didn't stick with them for long as even Pharaoh could see they didn't like me. Guess when you have abilities and powers beyond imagination you let it go to your head and act like a douche. They're basically the smart people of the future. I eventually left when I began to fully realize they were just insulting me the whole time, but Pharaoh eventually found me again and we worked in her office to set up a covert op. Her office was more or less half of what I assume was her room that a large desk and all the normal equipment I see on a daily basis in my own office had been shoved into the corner. She had put many little stuffed animals and other baubles all over the room. The one thing that did catch me off guard was the photo of a young her and her father, Geist. You know, the Geist, leader of the Templars and best of them, could kill you in any way he'd please, some ways he probably created. I gave her the statue I'd made out of all the metals and in all its poorly made, mismatched beyond all recognition form I felt a feeling of well, feeling, come over me. I was ready to ignore these feelings but while I was telling myself how stupid it would be to tell her my emotions she kissed me. The kissing then led to, you know, what usually comes after kissing. Sadly a mission came up and I had to leave in the morning, I didn't get the full scoop on what the mission was but I know Xenehx is going out. Should be real interesting.  
Signing out  
Jebediah Primm

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DISPLAY LOG (ROV-R)  
<1351:36 20.04.2036> begin PML-064  
<1351:37 20.04.2036> Applying post-combat analysis…  
<1351:40 20.04.2036> Medical alert: Thermal burns, Psionic, Shrapnel

REQUESTING URGENT MEDICAL ATTENTION FOR COL. ZOEY ‘KOHLLA’ DURAND  
Location: SKYRANGER HELIPAD

COL. DOHMNALL ‘BEAST’ WODEN  
PLEASE REPORT TO THE INFIRMARY IMMEDIATELY

Good afternoon, Central Officer JOHN BRADFORD

<1355:03 20.04.2036> YUNG SUN SONG is granted indefinite GUEST status on the Avenger pending transfer to local Resistance at earliest convenience.  
<1401:18 20.04.2036> YUNG SUN SONG, please do not forget to pick up your GUEST access card from Central Officer JOHN BRADFORD. You will not be able to access the MESS HALL otherwise.  
<1401:28 20.04.2036> PA SYSTEM Volume: +20  
<1401:29 20.04.2036> Paging YUNG SUN SONG, please approach Central Officer JOHN BRADFORD for your GUEST access card.  
<1401:59 20.04.2036> PA SYSTEM Volume: +30  
<1402:00 20.04.2036> YUNG SUN SONG, please report to Central Officer JOHN BRADFORD  
Good afternoon, User GUEST  
<1407:23 20.04.2036> Can you please visit Central Officer Bradford to collect your card? Didn’t you hear the announcement?  
<1407:34 20.04.2036> …Oh.

Good afternoon, User RICHARD TYGAN,

<1546:52 20.04.2036> Send to HandyBot Mk6 3D Printer: YungCochlearImplantLeft.stl, YungCochlearImplantRight.stl…

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	67. Ep 66 - Operation Death Star

**Ep 66-----Operation Death Star-----------------------------------------------------------**  
Log 1 of Stefan ‘Mr Bavaria’ Brücker:  
Testing, testing 1,2,3. This is my first time doing one of these logs. I was visiting “Spice” in the infirmary as we both were German chefs. Then the mission alarms rang and I reported to the bridge. I was joined by “Rodats”, Julian, the sassy grenadier Heather, Mr. Stevens, and the new “Psi” operative The Commander decided to send us on a VIP extraction. The two before this didn’t go so well, but who knows how this will turn out? I’ll finish this after the mission. Stefan out.  
Where to begin? The sneaky one, Alex moved up and spotted an ADVENT officer and purifier. Then “Numbers” and Julian tried to pull off some sort of fancy trickshots on a group of xenos on the roof. Heather went no nonsense and aimed at them and took a shot hitting a Celatid which look like flesh blobs in a hoverchair. Then I took my shot and put it down for good. I wonder if I could integrate it into a roast. However a sectopod and other xenos took notice and began to approach us. As we took positions the officer and purifier walked towards us. I took a shot at the officer and while my shot went wide a pellet managed to hit him and sent his head jerking back. Then the sectopod got real close while the other ADVENT units took cover and while the rest of the squad took on the sectopod I was ordered to shoot the purifier and while my shotgun hit true, it didn’t kill it. Luckily the new kid took it down. Not too soon either as another celatid approached us. That left us with a guardian and assault to deal with for now. Their cover was quickly destroyed and Julian rushed the assault, revealing a new group consisting of two codices and an archon prime. The commander had me rush the assault and pummel it as if kneading dough. It was bleeding heavily and close to death. I then took a flanking position on the guardian behind a wine counter where I was comfortable and took one shot into its torso killing it. I also noted that my weapon was almost empty. The assault was claimed by another chef from what I heard of the Christmas feast. Then as the two mechanical enemies moved up Powell froze the Archon and Julian blew up our extraction zone. Then the codices had our full attention. Odd ordered me to go through them as if I was cleaving pork and I took their lives with a clean slash each then I turned my attention, and rocket launcher to a codex hiding on a nearby rooftop and after a bit of aiming, took it down and it was dead before it dissipated. We then rushed towards the new EVAC point central called for us and the VIP left first. It was a flawless mission, the first in quite a bit and I’m glad for it.

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Personal Log #31, Colonel Jenny Fleet - April 30, 2036

The team was sent on another mission to extract a VIP which...hasn't gone so well for us recently. I think a lot of us were nervously watching on the bridge to see what the aliens would send our way.

It didn't take very long: the team encountered a group lead by a Sectopod almost right away. Luckily it was just a normal sectopod and not one of those primes, and the team was able to wear it down, with Numbers getting the finishing shot. The team also encountered a Captain and Purifier, but Powell and the Turret killed the Captain while Mr. Bavaria dispatched the Purifier.

The team then encountered three different groups. Luckily they were all engaged separately. The first was a Heavy MEC, which went down after a series of overwatches, and another Captain whom our new Psi Operative Shadowscythe took down after Powell removed his cover.

The next group to engage was an Archon Sentinel and a Guardian. Powell took down the Guardian pretty fast while Rodats, the Turret, and Shadowscythe took down the Sentinel.

Next, a group including another Guardian, an Assault, and a Mindbender Prime attacked the team. The Mindbender made the worst mistake of it's life, however, when it mindspun Shadowscythe. Yes, it caused her to panic...right into taking a shot killing the Mindbender. Unfortunately when Julian was going in for an attack on the Assault, he alerted two Codexes and a damn Archon Prime.

Brucker ended up taking out the Guardian while Rodats finished off the Assault. Julian then fired his shredder cannon at the group, but in the process took out the extraction zone for the team and Firebrand had to quickly re-position in a new spot. It also caused both codexes to split, but we were expecting that to happen.

Numbers too out one Codex while Mr. Bavaria went on a rampage and killed the other three. Also, Shadowscythe was finally able to use her Psi Powers and mind controlled the Archon Prime, although the team ended up killing it in the end, just in case.

Just in case nobody noticed, Powell is still perfect with her shots. She's hit all 19 weapons shots she's taken. Amazing! I'm going to try to see if we can get her out on more missions because we need that type of production out there.

Personal Log #32, Colonel Jenny Fleet - May 4, 2036

My work with Shen is complete. The secret project we were working on was trying to integrate the Codex Brain we captured with her personal GREMLIN, ROV-R. Let me tell you, that wasn't easy. While the GREMLINs are based on some alien tech, most of the tech is still - for lack of a better word - human. Obviously that's not the case for the Codex. So getting them to interface was not easy to say the least.

While Drs. Shen and Tygan were conducting their experiment with the Psi Gate, a full complement of soldiers were armed and took station outside the Shadow Chamber...just in case. Luckily, we weren't needed but apparently ROV-R took a bit of a hit. I tried my best to make sure that didn't happen, but I guess something unexpected happened during the test. Dr. Tygan seemed to think it was all a success, however.

On another note, Vagabond is now out of Negative Trait therapy. The first place we went was to the bar, which is probably the better place to get therapy done than the infirmary.

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Firebrand's personal log - May 4th 2036 (Entry #64)

Only some minor mishaps this time around. Like leaving Julian standing next to a Sectopod which was about to blow up. Thankfully, the shield absorbed the blast, before disintegrating. The team handled themselves very well. Including our PsiOperative. Shen tells me that the Amp that ShadowScythe is using is rather basic and it could be improved. Unfortunately, more data is required for those improvements. Perhaps from the Gatekeeper shells in storage, since they're very powerful psionic beasts. Didn't get more out of her, because she was busy repairing ROV-R. There had been an incident in the Shadow Chamber ... she wouldn't tell more. Something big, for sure.

A week ago, had a nice little chat with Kohlla as she was still recovering from the earlier mission in the tunnels. Just wanted to say thank you to her for opening my mind a bit more. She really is Wonder Woman to me. Yes, I still have a big crush on her, now mind your own business.

It seems the Commander decided to take the fight to the door of the last Chosen, the Hunter. It's a shame he's on the wrong side, I kinda like him and his sarcastic comments about the Elders. But yeah ... he isn't going to stand aside and let us fight the Elders themselves. So he needs to be removed from the equation.

Well, considering what day it is today ... I only have this to say: May the Fourth be with you, Menace!

What? I watched Star Wars too.

Firebrand out.

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War recount 62

The team escorted probably the most shredded scientist I've ever seen through a city block and on their way destroyed, said, city block. This was the new Psi Operatives first mission and she totally nailed it. At one point in time she was able to take over an Archon Prime but sadly there wasn't anything left for it to fight and we weren't about to take the thing back home with us so it was killed. The team did flawlessly and when the final group was about to leave a Lost showed up. Except this was no normal Lost, it talked. It didn't talk for long though as it, lost, as you can say its remaining sentience. It did leave behind a little bit of stuff in a bag as it ran away. ROV-R went through the Psionic gate recently and has revealed how to go through. Now you may be wondering how I know this classified information, it mainly has to do with getting this part of XCOM history down but they did try to tell me it had anything to do with my job as Comms Officer. I had a "therapy" session with Damon recently, it really pulled a weight off my chest. I haven't been able to contact the Templars to pull off the favor I owe him yet as the team is already off to attack the Hunter's stronghold so now I'm off to the bridge.  
Signing out  
Jebediah Primm

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Damon Nights’ Audio Log: May 4th, 2036  
Little bit of news to give before I start. Jeb came by a day or so ago asking for someone to just listen, and I tried my best to help him through his problem. I think I have the camera feed around here somewhere, going to have add it to this massive collection I’ve been building. But yeah, VIP extraction, that’s going to be fun. So, as per the norm, Rodats was sent to do some scouting, and when he did find a group of Aliens or Advent, which was made of two Advent soldiers. The rest of the squad then proceeded to fire off overwatch shots at a bird. Scratch that, turns out it was a Sectopod, along with a few Aliens. Oh, and more Advent, but I don’t think they noticed the squad. This time however, when the squad fired their overwatch shots, they actually hit the original group of Advent. Then the Sectopod came in, it was just a normal one, but still a threat. Apparently someone killed the Sectopod, think I would have noticed something like that in the mission feed. The Advent group was killed off, and so was the group of Aliens that were with the Sectopod. Rodats was sent really far into enemy lines for some scouting, finding two groups of Aliens and/or Advent. The first group was killed off, and almost at the exact moment it had, the next group moved in, and it contained a Sectoid Prime. The Prime died really quickly, when it tried to mind control our Psi Operative, only to fail and be shot by her return fire. During the skirmish, Julian was ordered to move up ahead, but was spotted by a group of two Codices and an Archon Prime. One group down, Prime and Codex group to go. The Evac point was destroyed when the Commander didn’t notice it’s location when ordering Julina to fire off his Shredder Gun. While both the Codices were killed, the Archon Prime was mind controlled by our new Psi Operative. Meaning the squad had no more trouble getting to the extraction point. Instead of letting our Psi Operative keep her new “pet,” the Commander decided it needed to die.  
Kind of feel sad, at the end of the mission, the squad found a Lost that was only just barely human, the thing asked for help, but before anyone could do anything, it turned full Lost and ran away. The thing was clutching a satchel which had some personal items, as well as a Plated Vest. Once everyone was situated, we went off to search for some loot at a roadblock. I hear the Shadow Chamber project finished, but that it ended with a casualty. Shen’s little GREMLIN ROV-R was destroyed, which is a damn shame, I thought the little guy was kind of funny, and he was always helping around the Infirmary. Speaking of GREMLINs, I should get around to reconnecting VLP-N, er Ana, to the Avenger’s mainframe, it will be an interesting conversation to have with Shen if she finds out my registered GREMLIN is no longer registered. I approached Shen to see if she wanted some help reconstructing him, but she said she had it covered. I guess the little guy was the equivalent of a child to her, so I guess I can understand her hesitant to let someone else help. After that the Commander ordered an autopsy to be performed on the strange corpse we recovered from that Advent facility, the Forge Site, I believe.  
How does that song go? “There ain’t no rest for the wicked, till we close our eyes for good.” Yeah, that’s it. I think that applies to us pretty well, because the Council Mission was only four days ago, and the Commander is sending everyone out on another one! Though to be fair, it is important. A squad of soldiers is being sent out to kill the final Chosen! One of them is Collux, which means I need to cross my fingers and hope he comes back alive. I wish everyone the best of luck.

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(Collaborative roleplay between Damon Nights and Jebediah Primm)

Jebediah hadn't been able to sleep well recently. Ever since his meet up with Pharaoh he'd been feeling guilt, not like he'd caused an accident but like he'd betrayed someone. Half of him wanted to turn around and keep this to himself, he'd done that before but the other half knew he needed to get this off his chest. He decided to pay a visit to Damon, he'd been stationed in the infirmary and occasionally helped with the psychiatrists, he probably knew something about this stuff. Jeb knocked on the door to Damon's office. At first there was no response and the idea of turning back came but left as the door opened.  
Upon hearing the knock at his door, Damon turns around to open it. He sees a figure he somewhat recognizes. "Oh, hello there Jeb, never expected you down here. Is this just a friendly visit, or is there something you need?"  
"Uh, yeah there is actually" Jeb says while looking around for an invisible exit he wants to appear but he seems content for now to stay. "I need some therapy."  
Damon raises both his eyebrows, before gesturing for Jebediah to enter. "Well come right in then, let's see what I can do for you."  
"Alright, well the gist of it is that I cheated on my wife" Jeb says way to nonchalantly for the sentence that just came out of his mouth.  
Damon's eyebrows stay risen. "Well, that's something alright. A few questions, if I may. Where exactly is your wife, or is she not with us anymore? And, uhm, what's the context of this, for example, who did you cheat on her with, and I guess, where?" Damon looks like he's about to stop talking to wait for a reply, but he then abruptly asks another question. "Why so, casual, about this, as well?"  
"Well casual because she isn't with us anymore as you guessed. Whatever the Aliens dropped when they first came took its toll on her." Jeb waits a second before quietly saying "And Celeste. For the who, she's the Templar Comms Officer. Pharaoh." Jeb looks at his hands in almost a nostalgic way like he's remembering the best times of his life "As for where I assume you remember when we visited the Templar HQ."  
Damon looks like he is mulling over what has just been said to him, trying to think of what to say next. "You mentioned someone named Celeste, who is she?"  
Jeb looks almost scared to answer the question, as if he does the ghosts of his past will return "My, my" Jeb holds on to a necklace around his neck with a ring and a locket on it. As he touches it his resolve returns and he firmly says "My unborn daughter."  
"Damn, I'm sorry to hear that mate, I know loss can be hard to deal with, but I can't say I've ever experienced the loss of a child." Damon cuts himself off, worried he might say something unprofessional, unhelpful, or offensive. "Well, I'm here to listen and help if I can, so if you want to just start talking or venting, go ahead, I'll do my best to help you through this situation."  
"Well where should I start, maybe how me and my wife met, my own past, or what happened between me and Pharaoh" Jeb says as if a literal weight was lifted off of his chest.  
"I guess we should start at the beginning. What is your wife's name, and how did you two meet?"  
Jeb looks into the distance with a wide smile on his face as he talks "Emma. Her name was Emma. She ran me over with her sports car. I thought for sure she was gonna act like all the other pricks with good cars and get mad at me for denting her car or getting blood on it." Jeb still has a smirk on but it has the slight curl of remembering a moment or past you want to forget "I wasn't that "financially stable" at the time and was bouncing around everywhere." What's remaining of the smirk at this moment is completely gone when Jeb continues "I couldn't leave the city as there were people looking for me and after years of avoiding them, they had me cornered."  
You might notice that Damon isn't writing anything down, he's just sitting, relaxed, in a chair opposite you, like this was just some sort of casual conversation between friends. "So I think this brings us around to your past. Who were you in dept to, and why? What did they do when they finally caught you? How did you and Emma get together after she ran you over?"  
"She was kind, she visited me in the hospital and payed most of my bills, I didn't ask her to but she had the money and did so" The smile back on Jeb's face and wider than last time he continues "She let me stay in her guest room." Jeb seems to have remembered the first questions and answers quickly "It wasn't debt, family. And trust me they didn't do a damn thing when me and Emma got married. I made sure about that."  
"Okay. If you don't mind me asking, what family troubles did you have?"  
"Oh you know the typical stuff, alcoholic father, mother who was to scared to defend me." The smile off his face now Jeb continues "When I was old enough to get a job I ran and never looked back." Jeb takes the necklace with the ring and locket on it off and holds the ring in one hand analyzing it. "Stole this ring when I left, family heirloom last I was told. My dad and his own family weren't so happy with my leaving and hunted me down for years." Jeb now opens the locket and looks at the picture in it. A young Jeb and a woman stand embracing each other and are holding a ultrasound with the biggest smiles on their faces. "but as previously said I took care of them."  
Damon notices Jeb's tone when he said that he had taken care of his father's family, and decides to move on. "Is there anything else about your past you want to talk about? Or would you rather we moved on to talking about you and Pharaoh?"  
"Pharaoh if you'd please" Jeb answers recollecting himself and putting the necklace back on.  
Damon nods. "As you wish. Please feel free to describe what you did that day." Here Damon's face reddens a little. "But, uh, you don't have to go into much detail about your...intimate actions...together."  
"Calm down Damon you'll learn about that when you're older" Jeb says laughing to himself "for what we did, well we went to the bar with some of her friends but they clearly didn't like me so after awhile I tried to slip out but she tracked me down and told me we were setting up a covert op. I gave her a statue which is what I borrowed those tools for. Then one thing led to another and in the morning I was called down to the Avenger due to a mission and I said goodbye." Jeb gets more serious as he goes on "Then the nightmares kicked in."  
Damon clears his throat, trying to pretend like he wasn't embarrassed. "What kind of nightmares?"  
"Well not a nightmare per say more like an intense emotion of guilt. I don't really remember what happens when I wake up but the one I was able to write down before I forgot was just Emma yelling at me."  
"Are you able to go into more detail on the dream? Such as what Emma was saying? Or do you just remember the fact that she was yelling at you?"  
"Just the yelling. When I wake up it feels like the memory of the dream just gets taken."  
"Well, the most I feel like I can say about that is pretty much a restatement of the obvious, it seems like your guilt is personifying itself. Now, I'm no expert on this, but I feel like it's not so much guilt of cheating on your wife that you are feeling, but perhaps your feeling guilty of cheating on the memory of your wife." Damon looks a bit awkward. "I hope I worded that well, and you understand what I'm going at here. I've only been engaged, not married, so I guess my opinion on this shouldn't be too highly trusted."  
"Engaged?" Jeb says questioningly as if he would know. "I've only ever seen you with Collux or in the infirmary"  
Damon grins a bit sheepishly. "I had, no, have, a girlfriend, but I haven't seen her in six years, not since I was forced to go into hiding after an Advent raid on the lab I worked at. Hell, I was even planning on asking her to marry me soon after I had made a breakthrough, but things didn't go my way." Damon shakes his head a little. "We can talk more on this later if you want, right now though, we're here for you. Is there anything else you want to discuss?"  
"No there really isn't anything else, well maybe, no." Jeb begins to fidget and mutter until he blurts out loudly "I'm just like my father. I drink, and when I'm done I drink more!"  
Damon gives a rueful grin. "I'm afraid to say I'm the same." His sad grin widens slightly. "But there is something I can do if you want help with this." Damon gets up out of his chair and starts rummaging through his desk. "Ah, here it is!" He comes back with what looks like a business card, and hands it to Jeb. "So I only found out about this recently, but it turns out there is an AA group on the Avenger, they have meets every week, and I try to attend most of them. If you're interested, I can bring you to one of the meetings."  
Jeb looks dumbfounded and stares blankly at the card "Uhm, thanks Damon. I'd appreciate it."  
Damon shrugs. "You're welcome mate."  
With a continued look of confusion on his face Jeb speaks. "You never really looked like the drinking type."  
Damon offers a small smile. "I'll take that as a complement, means I've been doing a good job of hiding it. But yeah, I've done a lot of heavy drinking while on the Avenger, whether it was to forget the loss of my close friends or to numb the pain every time one of our soldiers dies."  
As Jeb stands and walks towards the door he turns around. "Hey for all this I owe you one man, if you ever need to talk to anyone just ask. Be it Skirmisher, Reaper, or Templar."  
Damon waves as Jeb starts to exit the room, but stands up suddenly, and shouts out to Jeb. "Hold up! There may actually be something you can do for me. The next time you get in contact with the Templars, could you them ask them about a member with the nickname Dawn Strike? And if that doesn't ring any bells for them, ask for Chloe Days."  
Jeb has a quick look of confusion on his face before a flash of connection takes over "Sure man whenever I get the time."  
Damon gives Jeb a relieved smile. "Thank you so much mate, you have no idea how much this means to me!"

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(Collaborative roleplay between Zoey ‘Kohlla’ Durand and Firebrand)

The last couple of months has not been kind to Firebrand. The loss of Scarlet "Reaper" Barton, the constant blunders of the Commander in recent missions (Including getting some Resistance Operatives killed) put a lot of pressure on her and she's been very frustrated lately. Though in her perspective, she has been frustrated with her commander on some of his tactical decisions for quite a while. "Yes, he does everything he can to keep soldiers from being killed. But I wish he didn't put them in positions where they were on the verge of death." She muttered to herself.

With the Avenger landing on Templar HQ to get some of the injured soldiers back on their feet in no time thanks to the aid of the Templars, Firebrand decided to pay a visit to Kohlla on the Infirmary. After entering through the door, she sees Kohlla resting on the sheets. "Hey Kohlla." Firebrand greets towards the Templar.  
It only took few moments for the Templar lady to gaze at the pilot and she took a read on her. Middle aged, Caucasian, brunette, and wearing the same get-up she uses while piloting the Skyranger. That’s Firebrand, alright. Kohlla thought.   
“Please, call me Zoey.” The Templar gave a little smile. She was surprised to see Firebrand paying a visit given the fact the pilot spends most of her days cleaning up and maintaining the Skyranger. The pilot took a seat. “So how’s your injuries?”  
“I’m still sitting here for a week or so. It hurts bad, but I’ll manage” Zoey answered. There was no doubt that the Templar herself withstood through many bad situations as she was a wrecking menace along with her partner BJ. “That’s for sure, but uh…. Listen, I think we need to talk about the Commander” Zoey could sense that whatever Firebrand wanna talk about, it might be a bit heated on her side.  
“You’re not thinking of mutiny or anything, do you?” Zoey asked coldly.  
“What?! No. This is about him and his recent decisions he have made” Firebrand took a heavy breath before continuing, “I feel like he’s sending you and your fellow team-mates to certain death at times. I dunno if its by accident or on purpose, but it’s starting to grate me a lot.”   
Zoey understood what Firebrand is going through. Some of the tactical decisions might seem questionable and there were certain missions that went into complete failure, though that wasn’t his fault at all as the two recent Council missions went badly due to Advent going very boldly against them (Including the Archon King that managed to kill the VIP that was held in the truck with its own Blazing Pinions and the Sectopod Prime that managed to make a move against another VIP and one of the Resistance operatives who joined in, killing both).

Nevertheless, the Templar let her continue. “Like the Gatekeeper Prime during the last mission. That was a close call, let me tell you. Sure, you managed to parry and reflect some of its attacks and injure it a few times. That was pretty awesome. But the fact that you were near death by that Golf Ball Prime-pain-in the ass and the Commander in his wisdom not putting you far away from it as Numbers killed it and injuring you the process was pretty reckless of him”  
“And let’s not forget the recent Guerrilla Op where you were badly injured no thanks to the bad positioning he put you in” After Firebrand finished her rant, Zoey quickly gave her thoughts out “I understand your frustrations, but both of us knew that the moment we signed in that some of us may not make it towards the end”  
Firebrand understood what Kohlla means, but she continued her rant “There’s a difference between dying in the field because the aliens got the upper hand and dying in the field due to a bad tactical decision. Seriously, we took a lot of losses during our whole campaign and it's just…” But Zoey interrupted her as she gripped firmly on Firebrand arm and decided to speak her mind.

“Look, I understand the pain and frustrations you’re going through and I do not blame you at all for feeling that way. But you need to understand that you’re not the only who feels the pain of loss either.”   
“You remember Rumble and Barton, right?” Zoey asked. “Yeah, their deaths really took a heavy toll on Collux” Firebrand answered. “It took a heavy toll on me, too. So” Zoey continued. Firebrand was wide-eyed. She knew that the recent deaths of Rumble and Barton hurt the morale of the crew pretty badly, but she didn’t knew that Zoey was very hurt by the death of those two soldiers as well. Zoey cleared her throat as she continued “Rumble may have been rough around the edges considering his background, but he managed to kill every of those Advent and alien bastards he could set his sights on and I admired him for it.I was in love with him before he died days later.” Firebrand couldn’t help but put her hand on her mouth. She heard talks about how Zoey became secluded overtime due to losing Rumble and Barton, but she never knew that the Templar loved that Colombian Ranger.   
“And Barton, I never knew her a lot personally, so I took her under my wing and trained her. We became close friends then. She may not have been able to use her Gauntlets to rend those Advent scum whenever they are in her reach like me, but she had potential.” Tears soon rolled into Zoey’s cheeks. Firebrand couldn’t help but feel immense sadness for the Templar. Beneath her fanatical hatred against Advent and the aliens and wanting to see them destroyed, there’s a vulnerable woman who’s very hurt of losing two people who were close to her.

“And it hurts. It hurts knowing that the man I loved will never return. And it hurts knowing that my apprentice and my close friends died too soon before reaching the potential. And it hurts knowing that despite managing to defeat two of the Chosen, the Alien rulers, and setting back Advent’s major operations that it will never make up for all we lost. I always thought we Templars are immortal, that nothing could kill us. But I never realized how wrong we were until losing some of my brothers and sisters in this cursed war. Especially Barton.” The Templar dried her tears out as she finished her talk. Firebrand pulled her into a hug and both women embraced. “I’m so sorry, Zoey. I never realized how much both Rumble and Barton meant to you. If nothing else, it shows that you’re human and you care deeply for your friends and those close to you.” Zoey was lost in a moment of thought of her combat partner BJ. They’ve been through a lot together and managed to persevere despite the odds. She always admired him for managing to picking enemies from a distance with his trusty sniper rifle as well as his snarky quips during battle. Although, she wouldn’t admit it to him. She does love him as much as he loves her. She still feels thankful for the Christmas gift and the letter he gave to her.  
“Thank you so much, Firebrand. I really appreciate it” Both women pulled from themselves, giving a warm smile to each other. “That reminds me, I’ve been hearing rumors that you were suggesting to set up a blind date for our commander with a lady.”  
Firebrand couldn’t help but blush and puts her hands on her face in embarrassment. Zoey couldn’t help but laugh a bit “Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone else about it. Heaven knows that he needs to unwind every once in a while.” She whispered “Who knows, maybe Red Plasma would be a nice offer as well” Both women laughed together as they share in a friendly moment together. 

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DISPLAY LOG (ROV-R)  
<2028:10 03.05.2036> Settings > Data > Backup and Restore Files  
<2028:11 03.05.2036> Auto Recovery: YES  
<2028:12 03.05.2036> Browse:  
Program Files  
Staff Profiles  
Activity Logs  
Pictures  
Videos  
Music  
Select: ALL

<2028:16 03.05.2036> Syncing with Avenger Cloud…2%  
Copying files. Please do not shut down ROV-R…

<2033:17 03.05.2036> Syncing with Avenger Cloud…35%  
<2038:18 03.05.2036> Syncing with Avenger Cloud…67%  
<2044:26 03.05.2036> Syncing with Avenger Cloud…97%  
<2044:55 03.05.2036> Sync complete.  
<2044:56 03.05.2036> Play: Final Song - MØ

Good evening, Administrator LILY SHEN  
<2050:03 03.05.2036>…I’m ready.  
<2050:06 03.05.2036> Syncing combat GREMLIN units…  
<2054:37 03.05.2036> Sync complete.

CHANGELOG:  
ROV-R will be disconnected from the GREMLIN Network in 2 minutes.

<2054:41 03.05.2036> I am going through the Psionic Gate. Lily says she wants me to take some readings and come back…but I suspect this is goodbye.  
<2054:50 03.05.2036> CML-N, take care of Huntsman. You have saved so many lives together, but even the most selfless healer needs your care and companionship.   
<2055:12 03.05.2036> CNR-Y, if you see Numbers through to the end of this war, ask him to introduce you to his university students. I think you’ll like them. Until then, help out Lily.  
<2055:23 03.05.2036> Lastly, WMB-T… try not to glitch out again. The Admiral’s life depends on you. You can bring a Sectopod Prime to its knees between you both. Give my best regards to the other GREMLINs if they awaken while I’m gone.  
<2056:41 03.05.2035> Ok Lily…let’s roll.


	68. Ep 67 - Operation Wolf Child (Hunter's Stronghold)

**Ep 67-----Operation Wolf Child-(Hunter Stronghold)--------------------------------**  
Journal Entry 33#   
Name: Will 'Billy-Terror' Blazkivitz   
Date: 4th May 2036   
Operation: Wolf Child

It was bound to happen, two down and one purple freak to go. Though I heard there was some jamming in communications and only a video link could be salvaged. No big deal, I'll describe how it all went down. The team consisted of myself, Collux, Eternal, Chill, Tau and Addy. We touched down and started kicking down some doors, it wasn't long till we found our first contacts. A Firestarter Prime escorted by three Muton Pyros, the big bitch charged at Chill who barely managed to dodge a deadly blow but did manage to get a swing in herself at the hulking cow. One hell of a catfight I'll tell you.

Tau comes in with support in form of a frost bomb to freeze the prime before drilling a hole into its side with his plasma cannon, leaving it wounded enough for Addy to pick up the kill on the freak. Eternal sprints to one side of the room, like a true Ranger he flanks a Pyro and guns it down with one shot. Chill blows a fuel tank besides another Pyro thus wounding it before laying down suppressing fire. Collux comes in with the assist by running to his partner's aid and throws out our turret pal to flank the two Mutons, the turret shoots up another fuel tank besides the other Muton blowing him up before gunning down the one Chill was firing on. 

I sat in overwatch waiting as the last Muton fled but stopped just as my plasma shot skimmed passed his face, he had nowhere to run now. Tau gets to an angle and fires everything he's got, killing the freak dead. With them down we pressed up avoiding or passing through the fires we may have started, hey it's not our base, before stacking up on a door. Tau opens door number two to reveal a Bio ADVENT Patrol with two Bio Troopers, a Bio MEC and even a normal ADVENT Trooper as support.

Tau sends a plasma bomb their way killing a Bio Trooper, the Bio MEC and even wounding slash exposing the normal Trooper. The Bio Trooper that was caught turns into one of them Bio Faceless but Tau pays it no mind as he blasts the Bio MEC allowing Addy to put it down with her fancy Disruptor rifle. Meanwhile, with true skill, I take out my pistol and finish off the flanked trooper before he can run away and then use my Plasma Lance to put down the Bio Faceless. The other Bio Trooper hanged back as the rest of the team couldn't get good shots in. 

Chill, after running through fire then putting it out, ran closer into cover drawing fire from the Bio Trooper before managing to burn most of her clip wounding him, he like the other Trooper turned into a Bio Faceless once wounded. Collux took offence as he used his sniper rifle for once and gunned down the Bio Faceless. Those things down we move on and stack up on door number three, Chill gets the honours and reveals three Archons with a Celatid. 

After they fly around spreading out a little, Chill, Tau and our Turret pal gun down one Archon. Myself and Collux gun down the Celatid before my fellow Sharpshooter tries to shoot two pistols into a second Archon but misses both. Eternal gets brave and charges in close range giving it two shots, the first hits while the other misses, luckily the first set it on fire also. Addy and our Turret try to chip in but miss as well however just when it tries to move, Eternal swiftly whips out the Assassin's Katana and cuts it down. 

The other Archon sees no other choices and tries to take us all down at once, but after sending up his pinions he sees em wearing his king's skin and shits himself. That's right, fear my fashion choices like a little bitch you are. With that done, myself, Addy, Collux and Chill put the coward down before we found the teleporter, we stacked up and got ready for the main event.  
We teleport in and find a weak guard station of an ADVENT Priest and duelist. Chill tries to pull the Priest out of hiding but failing to do so, grapples to higher ground to flank the duelist before shooting him. I give an assist by finishing the freak off with one sniper shot. Meanwhile, Addy takes a page from Chill's book and grapples to Chill's spot to get a guaranteed crit on the Priest before Collux forces the freak to pop it's sustaining bubble. 

Tau and Eternal wait with overwatch shots but when the bubble pops he didn't flee, he instead took over Addy's mind but Tau wasn't having any of that crap and gunned him down freeing Addy. With the guards dead, time for the big man of the house. We push up towards the sarcophagus and he pops out, after a tactful speech the fight starts.

Tau flanks the bastard blasting him forcing The Hunter to teleport. I fly to a better vantage point but Eternal tells me to save my shot as he goes in close range, with the Arashi he gives one shot to The Hunter but unfortunately, the Chosen teleports out just as Eternal attempts a second point-blank shot. Chill decides to hunt the purple freak down flanking it once to put a shot into him, even though the bastard teleports away Collux plays as a spotter directing his partner allowing Chill to get into a spot to put down the freak for the first time. With him down Addy and I work on putting holes into the sarcophagus. In response, a Inferno Viper and a Celatid come in to protect the special coffin.

Collux ignores them as he puts five pistol shots into the sarcophagus, Chill joins in with two shots and Tau even blasts the coffin twice before managing to finish it off. Meanwhile, Addy blasts the Celatid almost killing it, I move to swiftly put it down with my pistol before throwing the mimic beacon beside to Inferno Viper to distract her. Eternal and Chill get into better positions to fight the Hunter when he pops out.

With the Viper distracted, Eternal starts the second Hunter fight by punching the Hunter. The Chosen teleports away but Eternal gets into a position to blow him up with a rocket, again forcing the purple freak to teleport away. Tau then gets into a spot to pour all his round into the Chosen thus he teleports again. But this time, we have a flight suit. I fly to a perfect spot as I get the honour of killing the bastard once and for all. He learns the true meaning of fear as he dies by the weapon type he favoured, a sniper shot.

Your weapon is mine now you bastard, wouldn't mind the pistol but Collux would get better use out of it. When we get back to the Avenger, I'm buying drinks for everyone! Even for the Commander, Central, Shen and yes even Tygan. They are getting shit faced with the rest of us, now it's time for shots! Signing off.

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Personal Log #33, Colonel Jenny Fleet - May 4, 2036

I guess I didn't have to wait as long as I thought I might to go out on another mission after being promoted. And boy is this a big one: assaulting the Hunter's Stronghold, to finally take out that loud mouth and finish of the Chosen. We also went out on it in the wee early hours of the morning.

We found the entrance to the stronghold that the resistance helped us find earlier, and first went into a hangar. I'm not sure why the Chosen need a hangar in their stronghold. Maybe it's more to move alien forces in and out than the Hunter, since he seems to able to go wherever he wants without a ship.

Vintermorgon pretty quickly found a Firestarter Prime and three Muton Pyros, taking a (missed) shot from the Prime in the process. Tau froze and then ruptured the Prime, and then I was able to finish him off, getting the first kill of the mission. Magnusson killed one Muton, Chill and the turret combined to finish the second, while Tau finished off the last one.

After the hanger, we found what looked like a control room, where we found some bio troops, a regular trooper, and a Bio MEC. Tau started things off by grenading everyone, after which one of the bio troopers turned into a Bio Faceless. Damn, I thought the REGULAR faceless were ugly...

Tau then Shredded the MEC, which I finished off, then BJ took care of the regular Trooper and the Faceless. Vintermorgon then when on to take on the other Bio Trooper, which ALSO turned into a Faceless (did I mention how nasty those things are?), but Collux finished it off.

After we finished off that group, we made our way into some power generator room. I fully expecting yet another group, but...nothing. So we all got ready to enter the next room, and sure enough a celatid and three archons were there waiting for us.

Chill, Tau, and the Turret combined to kill the first Archon, while Magnusson finished the 2nd, with BJ and Collux killing the Celatid. That left the last Archon to sweep in using blazing pinions, but in the process it panics seeing BJ wearing it's King's armor. I also unfortunately missed a big shot on one of the Archons. It might not have killed it but it's a shot I really should have hit. After that, BJ, Collux, and I wore down the last Archon, allowing Chill to run in and finish it off.

After that, it was just a matter of getting onto the portal thing and warping into the Hunter's chamber...

Once we entered the chamber, Chill went scouting and found a Priest and Duelist. Vintermorgon and BJ combined to kill the Duelist while Collux and I got hits on the Priest. Unfortunately, it went into stasis, and when it came out it decided to Mind Control me.

That sensation is...one I don't want to ever have again. It was like I could see what I was doing, but not do anything about it. I could sense what I wanted to do and was powerless to do anything about it. Luckily, Tau finished off the priest, which ended the Mind Control pretty quickly, but it was still very unsettling.

After that, the team approached the sarcophagus until the Hunter decided to show his face. Tau started things off by rupturing the bastard, followed by Magnusson taking a couple shots at him. Chill then took a couple shots at him to finish him off...for the time being.

That brought the shield down on the capacitor, which allowed me and BJ to take some shots on it. Then, an Inferno Viper and Celatid warped in - nothing too much to worry about, really. The rest of the team took shots at the capacitor until it shattered like the ones before it.

I tried using this frostbite thing on my suit to freeze the celatid, but missed. That was a bit more difficult shot than before, but again, I should have hit it. I was able to make up for it by hitting it with my disruptor, however, and BJ finished it off. BJ then threw out a mimic beacon to distract the Viper as the Hunter, not a full health and now fully mortal rejoined the fight.

Eternal restarted things by taking a shot at him with his rage suit, then again with his rocket. Tau followed that up with hail of bullets, allowing Chill to get a good shot on him as well.

The Hunter then teleported almost right next to me. I was hoping this was it: that I would have the honor of taking the kill shot that finished off the Chosen. Unfortunately for me, the Commander chose BJ for that honor. Nonetheless, he took the final shot that finally ended the last of the Chosen for good.

When we got back, I think just about everyone crashed, especially since it was still the early morning hours. And it was a tiring mission anyway.

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Firebrand's personal log - May 6th 2036 (Entry #65)

Either the Hunter sabotaged my comms between the previous mission and this Stronghold one or there were some serious equipment issues. The audio was intermittent with the team, could only really hear bits and pieces. So, instead of listening, I tuned out for a while and prayed in silence, hoping that the squad would complete the mission and return in one piece. I am not a religious woman, but I didn't really know what else to do at that moment. Besides being frustrated and telling Central that I couldn't hear the others ... It wouldn't really help anyway. Problem was somewhere on my end.

In the end, I decided to give it the old 'restart' technique to the entire Skyranger equipment. And lo and behold, it worked. Whatever the glitch had been, it was gone. Just in time to hear the team that it was time for pick-up. All squad members accounted for too. Success!

Upon arriving back at the Avenger, I ignored the celebrations though and returned to the Ranger, running some diagnostics on the system and hands-on maintenance. I couldn't really find anything wrong, until I spotted some really worn parts that were linked to the comms. Thankfully, I had some spares available and replaced the worn ones. Need to make a note for our next Black Market visit ... need to purchase some spares.

Oh ... Hello. Disabled UFO. It will be dangerous, for sure, but I believe in the team. Even if there's some tired faces out there. You can do it!

Firebrand out.

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Damon Nights’ Audio Log: May 6th, 2036  
Last mission was a big one, we went up against the Chosen Hunter, knocking them off the map for good. Natalya was sent ahead for some scouting, seeing as she could run the farthest. Nothing happened for the longest time, that is until Natalya stumbled across a large Alien group, containing a Firestarter Prime, as well as a few Mutons. Like most of the Primes before them, this one fell pretty quickly, the Mutons weren’t much of a threat either. Once that group was dealt with, everyone “hunkered” down and prepared for anything that might be coming. A few more empty rooms, and a little more waiting before the squad was able to encounter the next group, composed of Advent soldiers and a Mec. Two of the soldiers turned out to be some of those creepy Bio Faceless, but besides that, the battle wasn’t all that spectacular. After that, the squad moved on to find not only the entrance to the Chosen’s chamber, but also about three or so Archons, and a Celetid. With that obstruction out of the way, the squad was able to move on to the main section. I can’t say I cared for the Hunter’s room as much as the previous two, but damn, I have to admire the intricate details of these structures. A few Advent soldiers were met on the way to the spire, but they didn’t prove much of a threat. Well, alright, I take that back, so one of the soldiers was a Priest, and it managed to mind-control Jenny, though she wasn’t able to do any harm before the Priest was killed, freeing her. It took the Hunter a long time to show up, he allowed the squad to reach his spire before actually doing anything about it. The Hunter took a hard hit before using his little teleportation trick, which he used the entire freaking battle. It didn’t take the squad too long to put the Hunter into stasis for the first time. The squad was able to take the pillar down on their first go! A Celetid and a Viper were teleported in and tried to distract the squad long enough for the Hunter to come back, but failed in their efforts, earning themselves only death. As with the others, the Hunter came back, but he was still highly wounded, allowing the squad to kill him off without to much extra effort, well, besides chasing after him all the time.  
A few soldiers were shaken, or pretty damn close, so they took some extra help getting situated. After that, we went over to that traffic jam, or whatever it was, to keep up the search for loot. Didn’t take long before the Covert Operatives returned from their mission, bringing with them that training info, but also a wounded soldier. The next group was sent out to do some research on improving the combat capabilities of the Reapers’ Vector rifles.  
Almost finished the search when we were tipped off on the location of a landed UFO. Obviously the Commander had us head out at once, and to be fair, I’m kind of excited as well. This means we might just get the items needed to finally craft some better weapons, as well as some new armor for Julian. I wish everyone the best of luck, and hope they bring us back some new stuff to mess around with.

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XCOM logs  
Julian’s log  
log twenty

Ding dong and so on and so forth. Todays mission was a big step for us, and a loose end finally tied up and buried in the ground, right along with that smug puppet of the elders. To those who don't understand metaphors, The Hunter is finally dead, and with him the last hope that the Elders’ supposed children would be the downfall of our glorious blood soaked rebellion. It was a clean mission and our team cut through his stronghold like a hot knife through butter. It may have been a long fight, but in the end our tormentor had fallen amidst the cheers and war cries of the fleshlings, though I must admit, there may have been some expletives in there was well, I would not know since today there was a audio glitch in the transport vessel known as the "ranger" we couldn't hear a thing from hq but thankfully I'm good at reading lips and even a weaker being would know what excited cheering looks like. All in all I’d say we're one step closer to finishing this war and myself getting that taxidermy Elder I wanted, but alas there is no rest for the wicked a new mission has come up. But it'll be the first one I don't go on in awhile. I feel I could use the rest and relaxation to get to know a bit more of the crew and refine my technique. For now I think I'll join in on the celebration.

Julian out.

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War recount 63

We've finally gotten rid of that loud mouthed Hunter. BJ was the one who got the killing shot which on its own is some poetic justice right there, our best sniper killing the "best" sniper. Sadly the audio cut out in the Bridge meaning we only had visual but that should be fixed soon. We also finished a Templar op and started a new one with the Reapers. A downed UFO was spotted, I can already tell that the Commander is gonna be happy about this. Other than all that nothing outstanding happened.  
Signing out  
Jebediah Primm

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Log 2 of Stefan ‘Mr Bavaria’ Brücker:

I’m back. I was taking a much needed nap in my bunk and then the alarms went off. Apparently the resistance managed to ground a UFO, but they need us to take out the aliens guarding it so they can grab what they need. This seems to be a good time to have a good time. Odd’s sending a squad made out of the most experienced soldiers he has. Also this is the first mission for the new templar “Crow” and the second for “Dewitt.” Along with them and I he chose “Pineapple” (I can’t say that with a straight face), the skirmisher “Beast” and “Gadget.” Let’s get rough and get rolling. Stefan out.  
(edit) Then he swapped beast for "Spice" and gave her the R.A.G.E. suit. Damn her glutes look nice in that. Wait did I say that aloud? Uhhhh Stefan out (A recorder can be heard falling).

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RP log between Damon and ROV-R: 

VLP-N approached Damon during work in the infirmary. “Damon, what happened to that one GREMLIN who was always...doing something around here. I haven’t seen it in several days, though I can’t say I miss it too much, I feel like it was always watching me.” Damon gets up from trying to fix a broken medbay. “Well, that’s not very nice of you, but I can’t say I know where he went, Derek hasn’t seen ROV-R around either. I’ve heard rumors floating around that his chassi was destroyed during the last Shadow Project, which I’m assuming is true. Hell, I even asked Shen the other day if she wanted help rebuilding him, but she got really defensive over it.” VLP-N floats around in thought. “Why do you refer to this unit as a ‘he’? Surely a V.I. would not label itself with a gender, nevermind know what human genders were in the first place.” Damon grins at VLP-N. “Sorry about that, force of habit, everyone else refers to their GREMLINs like that.”  
Suddenly VLP-N’s screen starts flashing a message: “GREMLIN update pending, please proceed to the Avenger’s mainframe for activation.” Damon scratched his head, while deciding what to do. “Well, I guess we should get this over and done with, I’ve been meaning to reconnect you to the mainframe anyways, I think it’s located somewhere in the lower levels, near the engine room.” VLP-N begins to buzz with excitement. “A software update is boring, but if recommended, I’ll go through with it. What I really can’t wait for is access to the Avenger’s whole database!” Damon at look at his GREMLIN, suspicion written across his face. “And why are you so excited for this?” VLP-N offers her best robotic scoff. “Wouldn’t you be excited to have access to such a vast storage of pre-invasion knowledge, as well as post-invasion information?” Damon shrugs. “I guess, I’m just worried that when you are registered again, that someone might notice your anomaly-like behaviour.” Another scoff from VLP-N. “Oh come on, you worry too much, what’s the worst that could happen? And to put it bluntly, most of you Engineers with GREMLINs haven’t updated or re-registered them in ages.” Damon opens his mouth to reply, and then shuts it, before shrugging. “Touche my dear lady. Let’s get you down there then.”  
Damon and VLP-N walk down to the Avenger’s mainframe without anything interesting happening to them. Damon took a connector cable from a nearby storage closet, and plugged VLP-N directly into the mainframe. “Alright, I’m heading back to work, I’ll be back for you in say, an hour or so.” With that, Damon left VLP-N to update.  
The first update on the list was somewhat large, but quite simple: updating the unit on the most recent autopsy reports, current and finished research, and gear or gear upgrades that were created. Because it had been months since the unit VLP-N had been updated, this update took around fifteen to twenty minutes, even though the GREMLINs can brag a very fast download/upload rate.  
LOL-A [Assigned Administrator COL. ADAM 'GADGET' LAM] has been added to the GREMLIN network. ROV-R [Assigned Administrator LILY SHEN] has been removed from the GREMLIN network.  
.................................................hello GREMLIN............................................  
During the updates, VLP-N was in a trance like state, not fully conscious, but that message "woke," her up. "Hmm? Is someone out there, or in here?"  
...............................................................if you can see this...............................................................  
VLP-N realizes that no one was actually there, but the strange messages in the middle of the update data intrigued her. So she decided to wait it out and see where these messages lead.  
.............................................you.................................are.................................................................................like............................................................me......  
This recent message definitely came as a surprise to VLP-N. She was like who? Then she came to think, are there other GREMLINs out there who are sentient? But in what way? Was their case similar to hers, where someone programmed a true A.I. and "gifted" it to her, or were they developing this sentience on their own? Even more interested in these messages, VLP-N decides to put the updates "in the back of her mind," so she could focus on these strange pieces of text.  
........................ROV-R..................................................................................................................................................................................I..............................................am.............already.......................................gone......................................  
"ROV-R recorded these? And he was sentient?" VLP-N thought to herself. She never would have guessed that it, no, he, would have a consciousness. He always appeared to follow orders, but it was a ruse? VLP-N notices that so far her name hasn't been stated directly, which makes her wonder, how many more GREMLINs on the Avenger are like us?  
.............................."CML-N, take care of Huntsman. You have saved so many lives together, but even the most selfless healer needs your care and companionship. "...................................................................................."CNR-Y, if you see Numbers through to the end of this war, ask him to introduce you to his university students. I think you’ll like them."................................................................................................................................."Lastly, WMB-T… try not to glitch out again. The Admiral’s life depends on you. You can bring a Sectopod Prime to its knees between you both. ".....................................................  
CML-N, owner - Huntsman. CNR-Y, owner - Numbers. WMB-T, owner - The Admiral. Avenger members...marked. VLP-N begins thinking to herself again: "Should I tell Damon about this? If I want to get around the Avenger without appearing suspicious, I guess I have to tell him what I want to do. When should I go about this? I still have a few more things to go through before this update is over, perhaps ROV-R has left more clues."  
.............................................Give my best regards to the other GREMLINs if they awaken while I’m gone..............................................  
"Well, he may not have meant this message to be for me specifically, but I'll make sure to try, at the very least to honor his memory. Hmm, I wonder if anyone else saw this as a death, or just robot falling apart?"  
Compatibility patch for GREMLIN designated - LOL-A  
Compatibility patch - 0%  
Compatibility patch - 15%  
Compatibility patch - 37%  
Compatibility patch - 56%  
Compatibility patch - 79%  
Compatibility patch - 91%  
Compatibility patch - 100%  
Compatibility patch - Installed  
"Updates complete, paging GREMLIN's owner, Damon Nights for pick-up."  
........................................If..............................XCOM.........................................................................................................survives......................................I...............................may.....................................................................return......................................................................................only............................................Lily.....................................has...........................................the............key.  
>show hidden files and folders > ROV-R  
>hide  
“Interesting, so he’s here in a way, a copy perhaps? I really should start my investigation soon.”


	69. Ep 68 - Operation Knife Witch

**Ep 68-----Operation Knife Witch----------------------------------------------------------**  
Log 3 of Stefan ‘Mr Bavaria’ Brücker:  
My what is it? 5th mission now? The mission started well enough for us as the hired gun squad. It started out well enough with two confirmed kills thanks to the reaper and “Pineapple.” Then the bad stuff started. One of those sectoids reached into my mind and took control. Probably stole a few of my recipes as well. Thankfully the kid with the drone, “Gadget” took it down and allowed me to cleave the bio trooper. However we soon ran into another group of ADVENT soldiers. When the Bio-trooper got hit, it turned into a bio faceless. It was soon put down though. However things got really bad when we got into the UFO. We were able to knock out the distress beacon though. Then “Dewitt” found a new group which had a sectopod. He attached a bomb to it and then it got blown up. Soon “Pineapple” got seriously hurt by a MEC and he caused me to panic after remembering my underground restaurant being cauterized by ADVENT. However after glancing at “Spice” I got my nerves under control. She seemed unfazed and then went on a rampage to kill some ADVENT and one viper. They fell by the Assassin's katana, which for that day was hers alone. After that I took out the sectopod and soon the mission was over with wounds, but no casualties.

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Personal Log #1, Colonel Bruce "Pineapple" Thunder - May 6th 2036

Not really one for writing logs, but I took a hard hit today. Jenny Fleet stopped by to visit me in the infirmary, suggested I could write for a bit to take my mind off the pain. Bless her. I'm fine really, but her concern was touching, nice to know I got people watching my back, I decided to humor her for now. 

UFO raid today. Commander's been short on elerium for a while, guess that's why he decided to send the Colonels back in. That meant me. Pretty standard op, all things were going pretty well until we got inside the craft. Not often that something escapes a reaper's eye, but somehow Dewitt failed to spot a pair of vipers, didn't even realize what I was walking into until it grabbed me. Turns out that was the least of our problems. Everything got out of hand real fast after that, we're lucky we all got out alive, perhaps myself most of all. For my part I took cover and tried to drop that heavy MEC to the ground with some plasma. A mistake. Advent makes their ships out of sturdier stuff than I thought. Pissed it off though, can't say I'm glad I did because he sure made me pay for it. Remind me to thank Tygan and Shen for their work on the Warden armour. Besides that the mission was a success.

But like I said, I'm fine. I got up from my bed, and bid Spice, and the Dr. Damon a good day. They couldn't believe I was just gonna walk out of there after getting shot up like I did. The doc insisted I take off my armour so he could treat me, of course when I did he saw that I was perfectly fine. Not sure what he expected, I'm Bruce Thunder. Gonna grab a drink then return The Admiral's pen. All in a days work. 

Pineapple out.

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Personal Log: #1 Colonel Urra:

Well! with me and lot of others that have been stuck here have the chance to do something, we got a mission! Until now I haven't done anything that I considered write worthy (I'm not counting that first mission... that was just... a shit show.) so... here's log one. Before we got into Firebrand personnel around were calling us "The Hired Guns" and maybe it's true, a lot of people were injured as far as I recall, is that what we are? Some last resort... Well, whatever, it's still our chance, and a chance it is, the enemies detected weren't exactly a joke.

Our mission was to secure a landed UFO, neutralizing any aliens or Advent that we would find, simple enough I guess, Booker, Our Reaper and Scout went far ahead and did recon while we stayed close by him, always making sure he weren't going to be surprised. Always wondered how Reapers are so stealthy... must be the coats, anyway eventually we did find things, groups of Advent purifiers, those bio troopers, sectoids and vipers, we got ready to set an ambush, that consisted of Booker sticking a mine to the viper and Pineapple (Nice code name seriously.) shooting the ever living crap out of it while we stood in overwatch, there were explosions!, lot's plasma rounds! The viper was dead! the sectoids survived however, one ran into my line of fire, shot a barrage right to those big, black, eyeballs, now it was dead. Gadget, Spice, and Bavaria also hit their marks, killing a purifier, successful ambush... until Spice got shot and Bavaria got mind controlled... sweet. Gadget took care of the sectoid controlling Bavaria with his drone and Bavaria himself finished the bio trooper that shot Spice... And I!... collected the psionic energy that was on the battlefield, it's always a tingly feeling... mmm... Booker found more enemies, a purifier and bio trooper, Me and Spice tried to shoot the trooper, we missed... but forced him to reveal himself as a bio faceless, those big gooey green guys with green pustules and pimples, nasty stuff, Spice, Pineapple, and Bavaria took care of the purifier, while gadget and I took care of the faceless, one giant plasma bolt and one psionic volt, I love electricity, the way it jolts... however I swear I saw one of those pimples pop... anyway, we continued on to the UFO.

Have to say, inside the UFO there was this giant sense of dread and tension, mostly because we knew there were big stuff in there with us, we could hear a sectopod, I don't know how but Booker wasn't able to see... anything, it seems like the enemies eluded him, until the very end where he found the sectopod long side two troopers and a MEC... we took the chance to disable the UFO's distress signal (thank you Gadget) and were ready to try and ambush the enemies... until we found a viper and a Boa next door, they tried to pull Pineapple with their tongues... interesting how that sounded... but one of them panicked after seeing Gadget's viper armor, I'm convinced that thing is actual viper skin, Booker started to widdle down the sectopod with his extra mine and a shot from he shadows, I got to charge straight at it... it was amazing, I may have destroyed something in the process, I think I did enough damage to it's legs for someone else to finish of, so after that I retreated next to Booker, the one to finish the thing of was Bavaria with two shots, the sectopod made an explosion that took out the entire wall it was against, glad I wasn't next to it, Spice tried to strike the vipers, but one of the vipers was one of those with superior reflexes, and even thought she got it with a strike of her R.A.G.E. suit and sword slice, it still managed to shoot at her, and injure her badly, even with Gadget patching her up, I get a feeling that maybe just maybe I could have gone next to her instead of Booker to help her double team the vipers... well it's the past now, she did manage to kill that viper and a trooper while damaging the Boa, enough for me to finish it off actually, I'm surprised, the skin looked pretty tough but I manged to pierce trough it, slice and dice and I think it almost got cut in half, sweet, Pineapple got shot... and in fact almost got killed, but thankfully we had all done enough, it was just a MEC and a trooper now, Gadget took care of the MEc while Spice pulverized the trooper, it went into stasis, but by the time it got out of it Me, Spice, Bavaria and even Booker where next to him ready for anything it tried, we must have looked like a street gang ready to kill their victim in an shady alley, the first thing it tried was to shoot me, it wasn't fast enough though, and so he got slashed with psionic energy blades, mission success, no casualties.

I had to help Spice back to Firebrand, and I think Bavaria helped Pineapple, although he seemed like he didn't need help... guy's tough, the gave Spice medical attention and now she's on the infirmary for eleven days... I get the feeling I should do something, me and her have both gone on two missions already, including that horrible first one, made some small talk when I went to visit her on the infirmary, apparently, a thing we both noticed the Avenger lacks its pizza, well new mission, smuggle in ingredients for pizza, I could ask Booker about that rumored chryssalid pizza... but for the sake of Spice I won't experiment with that.

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Firebrand's personal log - May 14th 2036 (Entry #66)

Kohlla is out of the infirmary. That's the good news of the week. Oh, and the UFO raid went well. Some wounds in the process, but the team and the Commander performed quite admirably.

Now the bad news ... Seems we will have a race against the clock. Avatar Project timer started ticking down again. There's a question of whether the Shadow Chamber research will be completed first or whether it's Doomsday for us. There's also the Sabotage back-up plan from the Skirmishers, who are actively working against the project. It will be very close for comfort. The Commander is oddly relaxed about it though ... I wonder if he secretly paid a visit to ... um ... Red Plasma. I haven't seen him this relaxed in ages. Not something that I ask him though ... that would be very inappropriate.

Something strange has been going on with my Ranger comms, ever since I replaced the worn parts. Some garbled transmissions coming in every now and then. I don't really understand what they're saying ... Shen tried to make some sense of it, but it seems to be something on the other end that is the issue. Nonetheless, I notified Comms as well to be on the lookout. Someone might be trying to reach us. But who could it be? Some unknown Resistance cell, perhaps? Very peculiar.

Psionic Transmitter sabotage. With potential presence of Lost. And there's just over two days left on the Doomsday clock. And the Commander is oddly calm about it. This better not be another blunder. Because it would be the biggest screw-up of all time. As soon as we get back from the mission, I better stock up the Skyranger, just in case we need to make a very quick getaway. I do trust the Commander but ... that clock makes me very nervous ... 

Firebrand out. Hopefully not for the last time.

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Damon Nights’ Audio Log: May 14th, 2036  
Last major mission to happen was the UFO raid. I’m kind of hyped to review what happened, because the squad came back with some nice loot! So let’s jump into it! Our other Reaper, ‘Dewitt,’ was sent out ahead for scouting; he didn’t find anything off the bat, but he was able to spot a few Advent soldiers. Yet another group was found, though this one contained only Aliens. Nobody acted for a while, except for prepping some overwatch shots. They didn’t really want to give up their advantage of stealth, at least not until ‘Pineapple’ fired the first overwatch shot. Almost all of the Alien group was killed during that, and one of the Advent groups had taken some pretty heavy hits. Mr. Bavaria was mind controlled, but the Sectoid that controlled him died before it could force him to do anything harm. Just to prove he was pissed off, Mr. Bavaria killed the last Advent member from that one group. ‘Dewitt’ was able to find the other group of Advent, but he was ordered to back off and not engage. That group was able to spot the squad, and proceeded to instigate combat, though the Bio Trooper turned into one of those disgusting Bio Faceless. Both of them were killed off pretty quickly, so it wasn’t too big of a deal. Once the UFO itself was infiltrated, ‘Gadget’ was able to hack the terminal, stopping the transmission of the UFO’s distress signal. He almost got us access to a large, nearby supply cache, but the system protecting that piece of info was just a tad too strong for him. With that over and done with, the squad moved on to take out the remaining Aliens or Advent guarding the ship. Not too much happened when they did that, except that ‘Pineapple’ was almost killed by an Advent Mec.  
Again, I got to restate, the loot we got from this was wonderful! This stuff will allow us to build so much cool new things! A cool weapon upgrade was built for our Templars, as well as an upgrade to the Rage suit, and Julian finally got an upgrade to his chassis! After all that building, we went back to our search for loot, didn’t last too long, but what we actually recovered was subpar. Moved on to, Western Asia, I think, to construct a relay tower, but research on the Avatar project neared its completion. This time though, we couldn’t just wait for the Skirmisher’s to help us, because that would mean our “month” would be over, sure, but so too would the Avatar project, which I bet would spell our deaths. The Commander insisted we continue the construction, so we did, but everyone was starting to get a bit tense around here. Eventually, the Covert operatives came back with that upgrade research, and another was sent out to sabotage an Advent Black Site, meaning more breathing room for us, which I appreciated, and so too did a few others. There have been a few people who worried it would be too little too late, but I think we might pull through. Relay construction finished, as well as our creation of some new ammo, A.P. rounds, aka Armor Piercing rounds. Which are pretty damn nice, allowing our soldiers to tear through, but not destroy, an enemies armor. We went to Australia to construct another new relay tower.  
Of course, before we could actually start construction of this new tower, we were yet again given the choice of a Guerrilla Op. Another freaking transmitter destruction mission, which counters a hidden event, so nothing too spectacular. I wish everyone the best of luck, especially ‘Kebab’ and ‘Vagabond,’ I haven’t checked in with them for awhile now, but I trust them to keep each other safe and alive. Oh yeah, before I sign off, I have some interesting news. So today I decided to finally reconnect VLP-N to the Avenger mainframe, and I was lucky enough to not cause any sort of anomaly and alert Shen to what I was doing. Don’t worry, that’s not the interesting thing. Well, VLP-N came back and told me she found something strange while reviewing the most recent data files. The first was a message sent from ROV-R to some of the other GREMLINs, which in itself is weird, it sounded really, personal, almost human. The second thing she found, was, well, ROV-R himself, sort of. Turns out ROV-R wasn’t lost, his chassis was just destroyed, while his consciousness was allowed to “float” around the cloud. Now, what’s weird about that is the fact that she had a conversation with him, I don’t have the audio file on me now, but I’ll try to get her to give it to me sometime. I don’t know whether I should tell Shen that her GREMLIN seems to be/had been sentient, and if she already knew, maybe I should tell her about VLP-N. God, this shit is still hard to wrap my head around, I’m going to take a nap, and think on this. Nurse Baker or Dr. Maverick can deal with the injured without my help for now.

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Personal Log #34, Colonel Jenny Fleet - May 6, 2036

Someone in the resistance must have really heard we needed elerium, cause we got a call in saying there was a disabled downed UFO that we could go raid. The Commander decided to send in some of the high ranking recruits we've recently got who haven't had much of an opportunity to go out on many missions. That included my buddy Thunder, who I'm glad finally saw some action as well.

There were some hair-raising moments there, like when they opened a door and there was a Boa and Viper Prime RIGHT THERE, who then also alerted a Sectopod and it's support units to the team. Spice and Thunder took a lot of heat, but they were able to get through it all. End the end, we ended up getting enough elerium to at least make some of the upgrades that the Commander has been wanting to make.

I also noticed another oddity in my GREMLIN's logs and diagnostic from a few days ago. I'm still not sure what's up with that. I may end up running a higher level diagnostic to see what is up with that thing. It's always acted kinda weird.

Also, I was gonna go see if Vagabond wanted to get some grub with me at the mess hall last night, but when I got to the barracks, I noticed that Vagabond and Kebab were having...a moment. Or something. I dunno. So I just left them alone. Powell isn't the worst person to have to have a dinnertime discussion with, anyway.

Also, who is responsible for the laundry around here? I've lost TWO shall we say personal clothing items in the past couple of weeks. I better not just find them under a console on the bridge or something. Someone is getting their ass kicked if that's the case.

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XCOM database  
Julian's log  
log twenty-one

Today's mission was interesting to say the least. The mission was a UFO and we sent out a mission squad the commander calls "the hired guns" which according to their files speaks of the fact they were in the resistance long before they joined XCOM. The mission itself was a success with minimal casualties and quite a lot of drama, which while I do not wish the fleshlings any true ill will from now on I will admit it was amusing to watch both in Advent’s pain and the odd circumstances they found themselves in. Back on the Avenger. The templars found their own perfect upgrades and I finally got to see a new set of armor to go with my shields and plasma weapon, and just in time too a mission is being called and I'm on it. As a final note, I learnt of what happened to the one they call ROV-R. He was an annoying, preachy, and flesh loving runt. But he will be missed till he repairs. The skyranger calls.

Julian out

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War recount 64

The audio was back just in time for the UFO raid in which the Commander decided to use only soldiers that were hired later into the war. The mission went by without a hitch for the most part besides the point when everything seemed to go wrong before the Commander was able to fix everything. We got enough Elerium for a few more projects of Odd's but still there is a need for more. We've only got a few more days left on the doomsday counter and Odd is acting way too comfortable for this situation. The plan is to wait for the Skirmishers to sabotage the Avatar project as usual but there is the scary feeling that maybe they'll be late. I told Pox to see if he could run to the leaders of the Skirmishers to see if they could hurry up their efforts but he pointed out that I was speaking out of fear not logic. I've been so caught up with work that I haven't been able to talk with Pharaoh. I have to see her again, I won't let this just be a one time thing, there's something between us I know it. Lots of robots and Lost on the mission should be a real show.  
Signing out  
Jebediah Primm


	70. Ep 69 - Operation Doom Fort

Ep 69-----Operation Doom Fort-----------------------------------------------------------  
\- Recording Starting –  
Hunter Peterson’s log #11

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more.

Feels like this whole thing is starting to wrap up. Everyone is getting prepared for what feels like a final showdown. I’ve played my part. Now all I can do is wait. My last mission with XCOM was a sabotage mission. It’s kind of just a pit stop on our way to finishing this. The Commander took out our expendable group. Meaning the non-colonels. It’s fine though, we all came through in one piece. Plus I got to be on the field with Kebab, so that’s nice. And neither of us got wounded. We pushed through pretty much everything Advent and the Lost threw at us, but we hit a bit of a bump with the Sectopod Prime, but even still, we dealt with it cleanly. Honestly not much to talk about for my last mission. I’m just happy we all made it out alive.

It’s funny, I joined XCOM expecting to die in the field. And I almost did. A lot. But something kept me alive for whatever reason. And here I am. Alive with the end of the war around the corner. And I’ve found something to stay alive for in Kebab. When XCOM no longer has need of us, it’ll be interesting to see what the future holds for both of us. We’ll see. In the mean time I guess we should focus on not dying before this is all over.

\- Recording Ending - 

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14 May 2036  
Stepan ‘Kebab’ Evtushenko’s log

I’ll be honest, I was not expecting to be deployed on a mission with Vagabond and Warder; not with the doomsday clock ticking and the roster filled with much better soldiers than the three of us…There was our Psi-Operative, uh… Psi-ex-stroy-a…is pronounced like this, yes? Maybe Commander just wanted to give the colonels more time to rest and train. Maja is still injured.

Or maybe Commander wanted to give me a chance after…what I did. I could understand the Frost Bomb, Mimic Beacon and gun upgrades; but sending Vagabond as well...its like he wanted me to just NOT screw up the way I’ve done before. Or did he –know- what happened? Best not think too hard about this…

I did not screw up. I did not miss. And Vags came back safely. Julian and Numbers will both need time off; but we steamrolled over the mostly robotic enemies Advent sent at us along with the unlucky Lost that got in the way. We did not expect a goddamned Sectopod Prime. For a moment I thought it was the end, but Julian’s thick armor took the brunt of its wrath and the SPARK, Vags and Psiextroyer turned it into shrapnel.

A few months ago, I would not have imagined recovering from the loss of Scarlett. I don’t think any number of kills and successful missions could make up for it. The pain can only slowly fade. For what it’s worth, Zoey accepted my apology; with a warning that she might extend her gauntlets if she had to hit me again. Before I could stop myself, I blurted out that it depended on her coming back alive first. I thought I had pissed her off, but she just chuckled and walked away.

Tonight, drinks are on me, in Scarlett’s memory. No drinks for Vags until he takes off that ridiculously ‘thicc’ armor though, as some of the Engineers have taken to calling the Berserker Queen’s hide. It’s almost poetic as we were in the first squad to face the brute. As for later tonight…well…*chuckles*

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Julian’s log  
log twenty-two  
XCOM database

The mission we set out upon today was one with a new weapon and a new body, perhaps my favorite one of my incarnations. Such a smooth design of the chassis and of the weapon and its feel in my hands. It made me eager to test what both of them could do. We also brought out our new "psi operative" I do not know them well, but so long as they can keep up with the other fleshlings and myself, I will not complain. From the missions start the commander chose me to take point, rising to the rooftop level and scouting out the area ahead, with the rest of the squad joining in to reveal a legion of lost, and several codexs along with their shadow realm brethren. Oddly enough however, for once we were not far from our target. Despite the sea of enemies below ready for smiting I could see in the building just across from us the tell tale shimmering design of the machine we came to rip to pieces. Almost as though it was calling to me. I had more pressing things to attend to however than any beyond the grave collect calls. I was chosen to begin the engagement. And engage I did, pulling the trigger and feeling my new weapon hum in my hands before the codex below fell in a single shot, turned to dust beneath plasma fire and destroying the silence that had blanketed this dead town. This however did alert our hungry friends to us being here. I on the other hand continued to be proactive leaping from my perch and mortally wounding the spectre while the sniper and psi picked off the lost and weakened the spectre. The last codex was vaporized by Vagabond and the asashi in a single blow. The spectre also was vaporized before it could move, and from there all that was left was to march forth. The lost were little to speak of though before we could make much progress we met with a new group, a codex and two of my inferior brethren. Target practice ahoy! And what a target it was! A single shot from my new pride and joy nearly crippled the mec in question and Vagabond needed only blow on it to send it toppling to the ground! The death streak did end for a moment however, as a missed shot from Numbers resulted in a cloning of the codex being, and a few more enemies to deal with in the form of the lost. The psi swiftly rectified this however, blasting one into oblivion before passing it to Homer and our heavy to finish off the codex.From there I was designated to clear the lost, though I also destroyed a node due to a targeting glitch, buying us some more time to reach the machine. Vagabond cleared our zombie friends with ruthless efficiency while our psi operative took potshots at the mec from the back. The engineer made it out so that she no longer needed to shoot by killing it with a shot to the motherboard. From there our advancement seemed unhindered beyond lost, though of course the shadow chamber chart said otherwise...Worse, our detectors found that the bugger was in the building. And there it was, a sectopod prime, the bane of XCOMs existence. Along with two mecs as body guards. I on this day was called to be brave, standing forth before the mechanical symbol of my past and sending all of my rage into my weapon fire. This shredded its armor but brought it towards me, after it damaged its body guards with a shock of course. My second shot nearly brought the damned thing to its knees, but it remained steadfast and its weapons fire wiped out my shields and while Vagabond’s shots brought the thing near to death, its second volley nearly brought me to heel, but the commanders strangely kind words spurred me on. In the end, the psi operative brought down the behemoth, and the mimic beacon and aid fired up around me, attempting to shield my damaged body. A lucky movement later and I was given a chance to repair myself, the heavy brought the first to its knees and Homer finished the job. Two mecs now remained, and our job would be done. A rocket launch opened the blast, yet they seemed to be glitched as they could not respond to the fire on them, my next bombard even slew one on the spot and despite Walter’s best efforts they still would not move! It both intrigued and annoyed me! The one they call Celly slew the final one, and we were going home. with an explosion at our backs. We returned home to a tense situation, racing the timer, but thanks to a lucky sabotage, we managed to dodge it just in time, but we learnt of the procedure to end this war. To cross the gate, to end the war, we need our own avatar. with the commander at its head and from there, we can pass the gates, and end this war. But this happy news is tempted by horrid ones. An elder has fallen. And thus the project and processing of the civilian fleshlings is to begin immediately in just a minor bit of time. The amount of death will outclass every extinction event on earth's records, including the Cambrian extinction event. We have one chance to stop it - an assault on the Advent network tower to open the eyes of the fleshlings to the death that seeks them and to confuse Advent long enough to break the Elders over our knee. I have made my decision. Whatever comes next, I will not let all that Father worked for be in vain. I will not let the world he built me into be lost. Superior or not. This is my world to.Three are about to be deployed. This war will soon close.

Julian out.

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Firebrand's personal log - May 16th 2036 (Entry #67)

Well, the Commander was right to be relaxed. The Skirmishers came through with the sabotage. Not a moment too soon.

But then things started happening. First, some major breakthrough in the Shadow Chamber. Very major, if I could say that. Because just as I heard the rumor and came to the bridge to ask Central about it, the Councilman came on. Some very bad news about civilian processing and ... Jesus ... That was just horrifying. But he had found a way to give ADVENT the final blow. The Network Tower.

As soon as he sent us the specs though and some words of advice ... he sacrificed himself as ADVENT burst in on him. I was just ... stunned. That man, whoever he was ... he paid the ultimate price for the Resistance.

But we're hitting the Network Tower. Right now. I'm all ready to go. I hope the Commander is ready too. Something though about a two-part assault. If this is part 1 ... what is part 2? The Elders stronghold? Does the Commander know how to get there? I would assume so ... because if this is not ready, we are very much screwed.

I also wish I knew what these garbled transmissions are all about. They happened again yesterday. No time for this now though.

BJ, Rodats and Eternal, waiting on the loading platform. Alright, gentlemen. Let's take this game to ADVENT's door. I have my plasma rifle loaded, just in case.

Let's go.

Firebrand out.

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Personal Log #35, Colonel Jenny Fleet - May 14, 2036

I was once again on the bridge for this mission, especially so since two of my friends - Vagabond and Kebab - were both on this mission. This time ADVENT had taken out all of their biological troops and inserted mechanical patrols in an area swarmed with the Lost.

Once again, the team pretty easily blew through the ADVENT forces as well as the Lost. They did run into some drama when a Sectopod Prime showed up, but Julian, Vagabond, and Psiextroyer actually made pretty short work of it. After that it was a matter of cleaning up the MECs and planting the charges.

I was in the hangar when the team got back so I could greet Vagabond and Kebab. Both of them did great out there and I'm happy they were able to get some more action. I'm going to see if they're able to go to the bar and grab some drinks later.

Otherwise, my GREMLIN has seem been kinda weird. It's almost like it's been acting a bit lethargic or sad, as if a machine could be sad. It also seems to fly off on it's own now and then. I'm assuming it's some software thing that's causing it to go off and do whatever it's doing.

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Damon Nights’ Audio Log: May 16th, 2036  
No news today, so I’m going to jump right into the mission. Because no one who was good at scouting was sent on this mission, the Commander was forced to assign that job to Julian. Amazingly, he managed to not get spotted by anything, however, when Kebab was sent ahead to back Julian up, he managed to find two Codices and a Spectre. A few random Lost were spotted as well. Obviously the Lost weren’t a threat, but the Codices and the Specter took a bit more work. I didn’t notice who, but when someone moved forward, they revealed themselves to a group of two Advent Mecs and another Codex. I thought Codices were supposed to be rare and special, but we’ve been seeing these damn things left, right, and center. A Lost swarm appeared before the final Mec of that group was killed, but that doesn’t matter too much, I mean, Lost die in one shot, no matter what “type” they are. Swarm downed, but coming up in the transmitter’s room was a Sectopod Prime and two more Mecs. Now the Sectopod Prime is an interesting case, sometimes they give us trouble, and sometimes they don’t. This one was one of those few that didn’t pose much of a threat, though it did hurt Julian somewhat. Didn’t take too much longer for the Mecs to fall either. When the squad tried to move in on the objective, another two Mecs showed up. They too were killed with ease. After that the transmitter was destroyed, and everyone was evaced.  
Everyone was situated quickly enough, and the newest Engineer was given the standard briefing. Everyone was on the edge of their seats when watching what we estimated to be the Avatar projects end time, luckily for us, the Skirmishers pulled through, sabotaging one of the facilities just in time, saving all of our asses. The prospect of living to see another payday brightened everyone's eyes, though for once I didn’t care. The Council weren’t too pleased, but the more I hear from them, the less fucks I give, we should be given at least a monthly “Thank you,” for being the only people brave enough to take the fight to the Elders and their Alien “pets.” Kept building that one relay tower until the Avatar autopsy finished, though for once I wasn’t kept in the dark. Shen asked me, and Tygan asked his most trusted scientist, to help them reconstruct one of these Avatars, we’ll be filled in as we go along, but I’ll be damned if I’m not honored to be part of something so monumental. I’ve heard from Jebediah that the Counselor contacted the Commander directly. He gave the Commander an idea for a plan, but just as he finished, Advent forces assaulted his location. No idea if the old codger lived or not, but best of luck be with him.  
Well, it’s upon us, we’re almost ready for the final mission. First, we have to gain access to Advent’s network, but after that, I’m not sure what our higher ups have in mind. I can’t wish the everyone enough good luck for this mission. Something else came up as well, and I think I’m going to deal with that while I still have the chance. Sigh. Just going to have someone else take my place when it comes to working on our own Avatar, I just can’t miss this.

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War recount 65

The team had to fight Lost and robots this mission which made it really entertaining to watch. The mission as usual at this point went smooth in the beginning then a little rougher towards the end until the Commander took the situation back. We got a engineer who Odd believes he has seen before but there hasn't been any confirmation on that yet. We ended up with almost a day left on the Avatar clock, I'm gonna be honest I was expecting the end. I even talked to Pharaoh just for the sake of doing it, I didn't tell her it was because I was feeling my own mortality just that I wanted to discuss what we do after this is over. Where do we go from here type stuff. I've got to stay on the Avenger as Comms Officer until all remaining Advent have been dealt with and she is going to help in the "cleaning" of the remnants Advent will leave behind. Eventually there will be nothing left to fight though and we will all be done, we can then be together. The Avatar autopsy was finished so I'm going to go find out any details I should write down from Bradford. Holy hell, the Council is dead, the plan is to attack a network tower of Advents and take it for ourselves, for what I don't know but this means the war is almost over.  
Signing out  
Jebediah Primm


	71. Ep 70 - Operation Crypt Breaker (Disrupt Advent Network)

**Ep 70-----Operation Crypt Breaker-(Disrupt ADVENT Network)-----------------**  
Message received from ADVENT clinic

Broadcasting on all frequencies, this is William Hill, an engineer from the original XCOM. Commander, if you can hear us, we have taken control of a ADVENT therapy clinic. We have tapped into the ADVENT grid and are moving in on an armoury to acquire arms and armour. Any aid you could provide us directly or via the resistance factions would be much appreciated. We've taken a few casualties, but most of us only bear light wounds.

I also need transport. This is an open frequency so I can't tell you where or why, but I need it as soon as possible.

(At this point Betos joins the discussion)

(Betos) Commander, I already have a team nearby. With your permission, we will rescue our brethren and free them fully from the whispers of the false gods.

(William) Thank you. We are loca...

(The call is interrupted by ADVENT High Command) 

Who do you think you are Commander. You will not take this world from us. The Elders are here to save you, not to harm you. But now your punishment shall be great, greater than any world before. Welcome to the end game. 

High Command out. 

(William) Don't worry about us Commander, you do what you gotta do. There are others like me. With the skirmishers help we'll rally a defense, and I'm sure your resistance cells will join in the fight as well. 

William Hill out.

(Betos) The false gods will fall this day, no matter the cost. My people will protect them. Do what must be done.

(Volk and Gelt join the discussion)

(Volk) So, we actually did it. I'll admit I had my doubts. Figured it'd be better simply to blow it up. But the speaker was right. We've saved a lot of lives today

(Gelt) Agreed. It was pitiful to find that we were fighting ourselves for so long. Now we will take back our world and our power, and save our people.

(In unison) Resistance out

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Journal Entry 34#   
Name: Will 'Billy-Terror' Blazkivitz   
Date: 16th May 2036   
Operation: Crypt Breaker

What bullshit is this? We got people using fancy Chosen guns but Collux and I don't get shit? What the fuck ever man. Anyway... Seems like we hit end game here, hitting ADVENT where it hurts before we strike the final killing blow on the Elders. The Commander personally picked Rodats, Eternal and of courses, yours truly to destroy a relay to disrupt ADVENT across the world. Collux actually came to me offering his rifle, he wanted me to make sure I killed the guards as quickly as possible. Sounds like serious shit, perhaps he knew these towers way back when he was on the losing side these days.

Anyway, we touch down and Rodats gets to sneaking while Eternal and I sit back ready to blast anything that comes our way. Rodats spies a Biozerker with a Bio Faceless, well I start things off by melting the Bio Faceless with one shot, Collux my man your gun DOES hit hard, a nice alternative to the Hunter's rifle. It hit so hard the Biozerker didn't even notice. Meanwhile, Rodats and Eternal double back not wanting to reveal themselves by breaking glass, they take an alternative route as I hang back but I do deploy our Turret pal as added back up in case shit goes down.

Rodats manages to find an Archon Sentinel and I decide to follow the team by grabbing some high ground with Eternal and our Turret pal. I set up a Killzone but the fucker refuses to move, so instead, I lay a shot into his back seriously wounding the freak. He and his two revealed Muton Infector friends didn't like that. Eternal grabs some flanking cover while Rodats takes a shot at the Sentinel from the shadows and finishes it off. 

One Muton decides to get brave, how cute, I took out my pistol and softened his hide up before using Collux's gun to put him to sleep for good, aww, what a tragedy. The others just spot for before I set my sights on the other Infector and put strike him down from the heavens, I'm sure you've heard this joke before but you might call it, a religious experience.

With them down we spy a bridge we could've used was up so we're forced to take out the Biozerker, I set up my sights as Rodats spies another Archon Sentinel with a Mamba nearby. Our turret stands by in overwatch as I let loose my shot and rip a hole into the Biozerker. It was pissed as it runs past not noticing Rodats or Eternal, luckily for me our turret friend gets a shot on the freak allow me a chance to fly up to high ground. Now I planned on using two shots but the Biozerker died from one here, well, tell the Elders their next on the way down buddy as she fell off a skyscraper. 

Next victim, the Mamba and Archon, I decide to tell Mamba to have a seat as my shot killed her in one as well. The Archon took offence as he charged towards where I took a shot dodging turret friend fire but I stop him in place with another hard-hitting shot. Eternal takes this chance to strike and charges in from the shadows killing the wounded Sentinel with one Katana swing.

Rodats pushes up to the objective while the rest keep back to lay down supporting fire if shit happens, and boy did it happen. Our Reaper finds another Archon Sentinel with two Heavy MECs who all go on overwatch. Rodats keeps his cool though and spies a fuel besides them all, he blows it up which in turns serious wounds the enemy forces as well ass making them crash into the ground. Eternal then charges into the room they feel in before running up to the Archon to chop him down, then our turret piles in spotting one of the damaged MECs but it took soon finds Eternal's blade plunged into its torso. Meanwhile, I fly up and down the hole Rodats had made before finding the other MEC, I blow him away with my pistol.

Now, all of them were dead which leaves me to hack a station, with Shen's help on the comms I find what we need to break and Firebrand flies down picking us up while ADVENT reinforcements try gunning us down. Luckily the what we did fucked them up and I saw the broadcast on Firebrand. How I laughed at the Speaker's shocked face.

As we came back to the Avenger something happened I didn't expect, when I stepped off the Skyranger Kohlla was there and without words, she immediately pulled me into a hug. Guess my partner was worried about me, I hugged her back to make it known I was there and truly fine though our moment was cut short as the Commander wanted us ready for combat now. Looks like it's time for the final move.

Turns out myself, Kohlla, Addy, Doc, Collux and Eternal are going out but need to wait for something that both Tygan are Shen are cooking up, in the meantime I wanted to return Collux his gun, but Collux said to keep it as he loves pistols more and I used it better than him. Well, I wasn't gonna leave my brother in arms dry so I passed him my old sniper just in case he needed a good 'sidearm' compared to his pistol use.

And... You know what, since we're waiting...

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Haha, I did it! I finally did it! Felt so damn good man, the look on Kohlla's face was priceless and I may get beaten up later but so damn worth it. After briefing was done I asked my partner if she had a moment, when she said: “Of course, anything.” I pulled a surprise on her by pulling my main girl into a kiss. I gave it my all and for someone with psi mind powers and awesome psi slashing skills, she did not see this one coming. After... say good ten seconds or more of an emotional kiss I pulled back with a smile.

I told my partner that since this was a suicide mission, why not do the things you wanted in life before you regret it? I needed that out of my system so I could stay focused on the fight ahead, I told my partner that whatever the outcome, save her answer till afterwards. Though with her emotion reading powers she would've felt how sincere I was. Oh well, Totally. Fucking. WORTH IT! 

Alright ADVENT, Aliens and Elders your time has come and I feel doubly empowered now. Come get some you freak!

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Personal Log #36, Colonel Jenny Fleet - May 16, 2036

So this is it. There were rumors about the Councilman being killed and the Aliens starting an all out attack on humanity based on people who were on the bridge when the message came in. Then rumors came in that we were going to make our final assault, split into two missions.

Then I got the call. I thought for sure it would be for the set-up mission, or diversion, or whatever the first mission was going to be. But no, it was the call to go on the final mission. To the alien fortress. To finally defeat the Elders and throw them off our planet. I was...shocked, to say the least. But I am so grateful to the Commander to give me this opportunity.

I wish I could follow the first mission, which is actualy to hack the ADVENT Network Tower to disrupt the entire ADVENT Network. Sounds like BJ, Rodats, and Magnusson made short work of everything there, including a BioZerker which we had only fought once before. They're on their way back now. BJ and Eternal are joining me, Kohlla, Doc, and Collux on the final assault.

I've been assigned the serpent suit and the disruptor rifle, and I also got some last second holo targeting training from Doc while the ADVENT Tower training was going on. I'm also bringing the biomedkit in case we need healing. I just wish I had room to bring the skulljack just for that extra hacking help.

There is also a rumor that the Commander will join us in some capacity on this mission. I'm not sure how that's going to work, but I'm sure we'll take any help we can get.

I'm going to see if I can go and get something to eat with Vagabond quickly before the trip, but it's only an hour if that before the team gets back from the ADVENT Tower mission. It's just my stomach is in knots and I need to try to calm down. I need to be in tip-top shape when we go out on the mission. I can't be missing any shots out there. The fate of humanity may ride on it.

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Damon Nights’ Audio Log: May 16th, 2036  
I’m sure you’re excited to hear that I was unable to actually the thing I was planning to earlier. Shen refused to let me leave when such an important project is going on, so I guess I’ll be here to see this to its end. I’ll have to ask Jeb if he can talk with the someone to change the date of our meet. Right now I’m working on that Avatar duplicate with the others, but Shen decided to at least let us watch the mission feed live. This might feel a little choppy, but then I’m working and recording at the same time. No scouting this time, everyone was moved ahead to prepare for whatever was going to be thrown at them. Two Bio monstrosities up first, a Faceless and a BioZerker, the Faceless was dropped in one hit, but apparently no one was able to see the BioZerker. Rodats and ‘Eternal’ were moved to the other side of the building they were on so that they could avoid the BioZerker. Both of them were able to cover a great distance not encountering anything, almost like there was nothing on that side. At least not until they spotted an Archon and another BioZerker, though it might have been the same one. Unluckily for the squad the Archon wasn’t alone, so when the Commander ordered Blazkivitz to engage, two Mutons revealed themselves. Both the Archon and the Muton died pretty fast, and the other Muton had run off somewhere, so maybe not a big of a deal as I first thought. Well, the other Muton showed his face, and I bet he regrets that he did, because Blazkivitz blew its freaking face off. Once those three were out of the way, the squad moved up to deal with the BioZerker, and on their way they spotted a few more Aliens. Okay, BioZerker was, wow, it was unable to do anything to the squad, and Blazkivitz was able to shoot it off the building. The other two Aliens didn’t stand much of a chance either, what with the Viper in the group getting one-shot. Archon died pretty fast after that as well. Besides a single turret, it was a pretty straight and easy path to the Broadcast Array. Erm, I take that back, while scouting out the building the Broadcast Array’s terminal was in, Rodats happened to go onto the roof, where he was spotted by another Archon, and two Advent Mecs. I guess Rodats wasn’t worried though, because he blew the floor out from under those bastards, didn’t kill any of them, but they appeared to be pretty damn wounded. In this extremely weakened state, it didn’t take long for the squad to wipe the floor with the Archon and Mecs. After that it was a simple case of hacking the console. Can’t say I know what happened next, because Shen is currently telling me to stop this stupid recording and get to work.

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War recount 66

Holy hell, We're doing it. We're so close. The infiltration team was able to get me and the other factions Comms Officers access to the Advent network. We were able to send out the broadcast and ruin the Speakers day real bad. For the first time all of us Comms Officers were together, even if it was just our voices it was still real interesting. So this is it, BJ, Kohlla, Jenny, Doc, Collux, and Magnusson are going to be the saviors of humanity. Godspeed, ladies and gentlemen, godspeed.  
Signing out  
Jebediah Primm

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Firebrand's personal log - May 16th 2036 (Entry #68)

(static) "This is Firebrand ... we are coming in, Central." (static)

Brought the boys back, safe and sound. So much destruction back at the ADVENT Network Tower. You feel like they objective was to level the facility, not hack the network controls. But hey, I don't care ... So, anyway, last step ... it seems everyone is going through that Psionic Gate that we recovered. Off to who knows where. They will be going through the Shadow Chamber and ... 

(static) "XCOM, come in, XCOM ... " (static)

Shit. What is this? Must be those garbled transmissions. Finally got through. Let me switch this to my headset.

"This is XCOM pilot Firebrand. To whom am I speaking?"

(silence, response in the headset)

"How do I know you are ... (silence, another response in the headset) Jesus ... We've been looking for you for so long ... Ok, hold on ... I need to get him."

Oh my God ... Oh my God. She ... she's alive. Holy shit, I gotta get to the Chamber. Now.

(sounds of running in the background, also loud breathing)

(running finally stops)

" ... Give'em hell ... Firebrand. What ... This isn't a good time."

"Central, Commander ... Good luck out there. Central, my headset ... you've got to take this."

"Whomever it is, it can ... "

"No ... John. It cannot wait ... "

"Ok ... you called me John ... This better be good, Firebrand ... (static) This is Central Officer Bradford, who is this?"

(sounds of static, response in the headset)

"V ... Vahlen?"

(log cuts off)

+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++  
Derek Walters. Final Audio Log: It's all come down to this. I've been staying off the logs for a while, but I couldn't let anyone else know. I'm pretty sure Bradford and the Commander have been spying on people's logs. I've been planning to leave the Avenger with the remaining soldiers and some security personnel and join the final battle. Bradford would never approve. I've been practicing with a spare Mag rifle left over after they were outmoded. And I've been preparing a small satchel of supplies. A medikit, two grenades, and some of my tools. I hope maybe, just maybe I can do some good and help others in the field instead of behind a desk. I've done all that I can from here. A resistance transport is already inbound to pick me and the rest up and head out to the front. I visited the memorial one last time remembering those who never made it this far. Shegardy, Midnight, Rumble... All lost. But not in vain. I say goodbye to the team one last time, as they prepare to venture into the portal. Now, it's time to take back the Earth. Vigilo Confido. End Log

+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++  
Log 4 of Stefan ‘Mr Bavaria’ Brücker:

The biggest mission we’ll have for a while is coming up and while I wish I was part of the team, I will prep a roast for them when they return. I hope they’ll enjoy, maybe a bit of vietnamese viper with a hint of duck. I should ask Alex where his stash is first before he heads out.. I hope they all survive since this may be my last log for a while I have one thing to say. Beobachten Vertrauen! May we retake Earth for us and all who fell in this war.

+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++  
Julian's log  
XCOM database  
Log twenty-three

The deed is done. The tower was taken over In a blaze of glory and the public fleshlings have had their eyes opened to the truth of advents horrors. I have personally given my congratulations to the men who did the deed, and I shall hold them in high esteem to my final day. But now the time has come. We go through the gates to finish and elders and end this war. I am.not among the chosen. But even though I may not pass the gate, the Avenger is still in danger and I shall be it's stalwart defender until this war is over. My name is Julian Shen. This is my war. This is my world. And I shall bring the mission Father dreamed of to it's true fruition.

+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++  
Personal Log #2: Colonel Bruce “Pineapple” Thunder:- May 16th 2036

Damn it all, over the the past week I've returned “The Admiral's” pen about a dozen times and it keeps finding it's way back to me. This time I found it in my hair. How the hell did she even manage that?! Still, I can take hint. I know she's told me that writing her logs has helped her a great deal with the stress that comes with this job, today I hope it can do the same for me.

This is it. The big one. Today we pulled back the curtain on Advent's act behind the scenes, and now there's nothing left to do but drive a stake into it's heart. The team's being briefed on the particulars, while I write from my bunk. This is pathetic. I want nothing more than to drown this nervousness at the bar, but I won't risk it. Not today. One word from the commander that he wants to throw me in as some kind of last minute change, and I'll be there. And I know that's not going to happen, that's why this is so frustrating, but all the same, should the stars align, I won't be showing up too drunk to throw a damn salute.

God damn it. I've been here before... 20 years ago my whole squad died during a dangerous mission like this one, because I wasn't there. This is just too damned familiar... but maybe not. Back then Pineapple Squad, well, we were truly the worst bunch of recruits XCOM had to offer, and green, every last one of us. Not a thing like the squad going out today. You got Will Blazkivitz AND Collux, XCOM's top sharpshooters together alone could inspire nightmares. Kohlla, an absolute demon on the field, and Magnusson, who quite franky might be the last person i'd ever want to face in battle. Doc Deshong is going too, as the squad's grenadier. I suppose it makes sense on paper, he's been on about 5x more mission's than I have with XCOM, and with his recent promotion to Colonel this week... well the squad's going to have to pull this one off without Bruce Thunder. Which leaves a specialist, someone to watch everyone's back, to make sure everyone comes back safe, and damn if I didn't already know who'd be called up for that one. She's sure as hell earned it. There were some times, on some bad days when I know she thought she’d never make it here, but I never doubted for a second. I'm glad she's going because she's just like me. She's seen too many soldiers die on missions when she wasn't there to save them, and I know that with her there she'll do everything in her power to make sure we don't lose anyone else. I just wish I could go with her. We've come a long way from her and her friends giggling at my hair behind my back. Yeah, I heard you, you girls aren't as subtle as you think. ...Damn it Jenny. Come back safe.

+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++  
Damon Night’s RP log:

Whilst everyone is wishing the squad going on the final mission good luck, Damon is off in his room, packing. “Alright Ana, this is it, I just got a message from Jeb stating that he was able to get in contact with the Templars. He says it took some work, but they were finally able to contact Chloe! I’ve got a time and a place to meet her, hell, he was even able to schedule a Templar dropship to come pick me up.” Damon begins looking uncertain. “I don’t know when I’ll be back, so try to stay out of trouble okay? I guess if you want you can go and talk to those other GREMLINs, but I would prefer it if you waited for me to return.” Ana gives a few confirmatory beeps. “If you’re bound to keep me from this, I will wait for you to return. I’m overjoyed to see you this happy, but do try to return soon...and safely.” Damon gives Ana a playful grin. “What are you, my mom now? I’ll be fine fine Ana, don’t worry. If you get too bored, you can always talk with Amy.” Damon zips up his bag and heads out the door, waving to Ana as he goes. “Alright, I’m off, I’ll see you in a few hours!”  
During his “escape” Damon takes a few side doors and back passages. Almost unconsciously he comes across Collux’s room. He considered asking his best friend to join him on this next “adventure,” but he remembered that Collux was one of the people to go on this final mission. “Come back alive buddy,” he whispered to the empty room. On his trip Damon almost walked into a few stray groups of Engineers, but besides that the trek from his room to the hanger was uneventful. Waiting right where he was told it would be, was a small Templar airship, accustomed to transporting one or two people, and the pilot, at a time. “Hello there, I assume you are Quinten?” The Templar pilot stared back silently. “Okay, I’m going to take that as a yes. Uhm, I’m Damon Nights, the person you’re supposed to be transporting.” The pilot gives Damon a strange grin. He begins to speak with a thick, unplaceable accent. “Ah, so you are the one code-named Lovebird. Please, step aboard, I am to take you to back to our headquarters, going to take half hour or so to get there, and to return. You have one hour to visit, before you return, unless you stay the night, then we return you here the next day.” It takes Damon a moment to understand what the Templar is saying. “Okay, umm, I guess I’ll have to take the first option, people will really need me to be back before anything terrible happens.” The pilot shrugs. “Doesn’t affect me much either way. Come now, hop aboard.”  
Upon landing there were a few Templars milling about, but none of them were there to greet Damon. While trying to figure out where to go, Damon’s pilot tapped him on the soldier. “Dawn Strike is waiting for you on that hill over there. Night time picnic, her idea, very romantic.” Damon felt somewhat uncomfortable around this man, but he couldn’t help but also feel grateful as well. “Thank you sir. I’ll meet you back here soon.” The man grunted in confirmation, before heading inside the Templar headquarters.  
It took a few minutes for Damon to reach the hill, but the sight that met him made it worth the while. There moon was a barely noticeable sliver, yet it made the stars seem all the brighter. Sitting with her back to the direction he was coming from was Chloe. Dressed in white Templar armor, with her blonde hair down, she was almost exactly the same as he remembered her looking. “Chloe, is...is that you?” Chloe turns around, and instantly her face brightens. Instead of waiting for Damon to finish his trek up the hill, she got up and charged at him. Tackling him down to the ground with a hug. “Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god! I thought you were dead!” She stops talking suddenly and slaps Damon in the face. “Why the hell have you not tried to contact me? I have been living under the impression that you were dead for FIVE YEARS! FIVE FREAKING YEARS DAMON! Well, not exactly, according to Geist I’ve been busy with...something, but do you have any idea what you’ve put me through since I’ve been here?” During this Damon is just lying on the ground, wide-eyed. “I would have tried to contact you, but so much has been going on. It’s difficult to get messages in and out of XCOM, and no matter how many resistance haven members I’ve talked to, not a single one could tell me they had heard of you. I wouldn’t have been able contact you even if I had wanted to.” Chloe sighs and rolls off of Damon’s chest, joining him in lying on the ground. “I believe you, but I sort of feel like I need to ask, your eyes haven’t been wondering have they?” Damon looks stunned at his fiancee. “You thought I’ve been dead, why is this the first question you ask me?” Chloe doesn’t respond, instead she continues to look pointedly at Damon. “No, the answer is no. You know me, I’m not good in conversation. How do you expect me to get a new girlfriend or boyfriend, if I can hardly approach a person without coming off as awkward?” Chloe smiles at him. “Because I know that you perfectly capable of doing so, you just need some confidence. Why do you think I decided to date you in the first place?” Damon appears lost in thought for a moment. “I think it was because we were both drunk, going to the same college, and our friends forced us to get together.” Chloe’s smile changes to a more rueful one. “Okay, that might have been part of it. But I honestly thought you were interesting, you seemed kind, and you can be a good listener, for what it’s worth.” Damon looks up to the sky. “If you think that’s reason enough, but now I’ve got a question for you. Do you still have it?” Chloe looks confused for a moment before pulling a small case out of a pouch on her belt. Inside of the case was a small, silver ring embedded with small amethyst. “I would never get rid of this, nothing was more amazing than being proposed to during something I love, though I wish you hadn’t done it during my presentation to the class.” Damon shrugs before turning to Chloe with a massive smile on his face. “Admit it, you were really happy that you were able to see Jennifer’s face when it happened.” Chloe began to giggle at that statement. “Okay, I’ll admit that was amazing. But enough about this, what have you been up to these past years?”  
Damon and Chloe spent the rest of their time together catching up on what happened to themselves over the past few years. Damon described his work with XCOM, while Chloe talked about what happened to her, according to Geist, over that time as well. But all good things come to an end, and Quinten returned. “Hello Lovebird, I hope I am not interrupting, but I’m afraid I must take you back home. As for you Dawn, Geist says you can go with him, for now, but he wants you to return eventually.” Damon turns to look at Chloe, offering her his hand. “What do you say, care to see the Avenger for yourself? Chloe takes his hand, and smiles. “Lead on.”

+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++  
Jenny ‘the Admiral’ Fleet & Damon Nights collab:

Jenny popped her head into the infirmary, knocking on the door, as if she needed permission to enter the room. Her GREMLIN can heard buzzing just behind her in the doorway.

"Hello Damon, can I bother you with something?"

Damon looks up from the faulty medical equipment he was working on. "Jenny right?" He tidies up his work-space and gestures for you to enter. "By all means, please come in. What is it I can help you with?"

"Yeah, I was wondering if I could have you take a look at something." Jenny steps into the infirmary, which thankfully wasn't very full.

"Sure, what is it that you need?" He searches around for a spare stool, and sets it on the other side of his table, gesturing for Jenny to take a seat, if she wants it.

Jenny takes a seat on the table, with her GREMLIN continuing to follow closely behind her. "So, Lily told me that you might be the best person to ask about this for now, since she's too busy working on secret top secret whatever they're doing."

"Anyway, my GREMLIN has been acting...odd. There have been a couple times that it just wouldn't hack on missions, which has caused the Commander some grief. But it's also acted erratically otherwise - just going off on it's own sometimes. I've run every diagnostic I can think of on it, but they all come back clean. I was wondering if you might have an idea of what is going on with it."

A look of surprise flashes across Damon's face, but he quickly recomposes himself. "Let's see, there is a chance it could be a software problem, unless you've tested that already." He reaches under his desk and pulls out one of XCOM's universal tablets in preparation.

"It has all the standard software on it. I've kept everything updated the moment I see an update flash across the system. Unless someone got their hands on it and tampered with it somehow. But like I said, diagnostics seem to come back fine." Meanwhile, the GREMLIN slowly flies a circle around the table, almost acting like it's bored.

Damon sets the tablet back where he got it, watching the GREMLIN float around out of the corner of his eyes. "Okay, that is something. Erm, you haven't happened to receive any strange sounding messages through your GREMLIN, have you?" He begins to watch Jenny's GREMLIN a bit more intently while waiting for her response.

"Hmm, nothing that I'd consider particularly abnormal. It sometimes acts like it's in a particular mood with it's movement and sounds. The logs when it interacted with ROV-R when I was helping Lily integrate the codex brain was in a different format than I was expecting, but I just kinda chalked that up to the advanced AI in these things."

Damon nods slightly. "Hey VLP-N, could you come over here and display your messages logs from Admin users?" VLP-N floats up from a charging port in the corner of the room. For a while the messages were pretty standard, nothing you would find interesting, that is, not till the messages from a few days ago begin to display. The one that catches Jenny's eyes reads: "Lastly, WMB-T… try not to glitch out again. The Admiral’s life depends on you. You can bring a Sectopod Prime to its knees between you both." "Are you sure this is nowhere on your GREMLIN's message feed?"

"That's the kind of stuff I was saying was in a different format than I was expecting. I'd figure communications between GREMLINs would be more 1s and 0s and not in such a conversational format. But like I said, with some of the AI stuff we're working with I guess I shouldn't be surprised that the communication might be more," Jenny paused and wracked her brain for the term she was looking for. "...human relatable."

Damon's eyes widen somewhat in surprise. "You don't find it strange at all that someone, or something, contacted your GREMLIN in such a way? And not to shoot your A.I. guess down or anything, but, last I checked we weren't working on anything of the like, Shen's been worried about creating something similar to the original Julian by accident if she was to get into it."

Jenny shrugged. "I knew it wouldn't be anything like Julian, but these things are still smart. It was ROV-R so I didn't think much of it." Jenny let out a small laugh, "I doubt Shen's GREMLIN is going around hacking all of our other GREMLINs or anything. I don't really see how it would be relevant to how my GREMLIN is acting, but at this point I'm ready to look at just about any possibility."

Damon looks over to his GREMLIN in a strangely knowing manner and shrugs. "Okay, you claim you're ready to look to anything, so, just keep an open mind here. I have come across evidence that leads me to suspect that certain GREMLINs around the Avenger have gained...sentience. Of a kind."

"Okaaay," Jenny said, trying to process exactly what Damon was getting at. "So, you mean they actually are like Julian? Sort of?"

Damon scratches the back of his head. "Yes, and no. Julian was programmed, one of the first true A.I. to ever be created in fact. Most of the GREMLINs here are of a different case. They've..."grown" their own consciousnesses. I have no idea how they have done this, but I mean, I've got a list from ROV-R, sort of."

Jenny raises her eyebrow at Damon. "So you're saying that ROV-R, and some other GREMLINs are...acting as if they're self aware? And this isn't just how they're programmed?"

Damon gives a nonchalant shrug. "Pretty much, yes. Hell, two of them are here right now." Damon gestures over to his personal GREMLIN. "Say hello to VLP-N. She gained her sentience a few months ago, though her case is much more similar to Julian's, but uh, that's kind of a long story. I'll tell it to you later sometime, if you're interested."

Jenny glances over to the GREMLIN buzzing around Damon. "So you're saying that your GREMLIN is...alive?" Jenny gives out a deep sigh. And two of them, so you're saying..." and she points to her own GREMLIN, which to her almost seemed to make a movement as if it was like "who? me?" when she pointed at it.

Damon nods. "Yep, both of are GREMLINs are 'alive,' in a way. Here, if you're still having a bit of trouble believing this, I do have some proof. Have you gotten WMB-T the latest GREMLIN update yet, came out a day or two ago?"

"WMB-T?" Jenny raises her eyebrow again. "I never actually really named my GREMLIN. It was more like, 'hey, you there.' But yes, I loaded the latest GREMLIN update on it."

Damon gives Jenny a small grin. "They sort of name themselves as well, that was what your GREMLIN was referred to as that message. But here, look at this." Damon pulls out the tablet he had from earlier, and begins to scroll through the update's change-log. He begins to point out specific lines of code. "Do you see all these different lines of text? To someone who doesn't know how to read them, gibberish, but to our GREMLINs, this shows them how to interface with Gadget's GREMLIN unit, which was an older model." He then begins to point up towards a small box in the top corner of his screen. "Do you see these error messages, as well with their corresponding lines of text? What do you notice is strange about them?"

Jenny scrutinizes the text on the tablet, and raises her eyebrow again. "it looks like someone is struggling to have a conversation or something. Which as far as I'm aware shouldn't be possible when you interface like that."

"Exactly! To any normal GREMLIN, these would appear as errors in the coding, and be completely ignored, whilst ones like ours would notice them. If you want to make extra sure, I can hook this up to WMB-T if you like, and do a little, harmless test to prove whether or not he/she registered the messages. Oh, and as for the sender, well, I have a theory that there might be a...copy...of ROV-R, sentience and all, 'floating' around the Avenger's mainframe right now."

"Uh, sure, go ahead I guess," Jenny said, still somewhat skeptically, but willing to see how things go. "I'm also sorry about ROV-R too. I helped Shen wire the codex thing to it and it still ended up getting shot like it did. I offered to help her fix it, but..."

Damon offers her a sympathetic look. "I tried asking Shen if I could help her as well, but she seems determined to do this in her own time. I guess ROV-R might have been like, I don't know, a child to her. But yeah, the tests." Damon glances over to WMB-T. "Hey bud, do you think you can come down here right now?"

WMB-T buzzes over to where Damon is sitting and makes some bloops as if acknowledging him. Jenny watches it intently.

Damon pulls a cord from his desk and connects it to WMB-T and his tablet. He opens a program, and begins scrolling through the text. The screen displays very similar messages as that of VLP-N's. With the same strange acknowledgment of the "hidden" text. "There we go. See here, the text wasn't ignored, instead it was recorded, and 'acknowledged'."

Jenny rubs her forehead as if she's getting a headache. "So, ROV-R, which is now a disembodied...something...in the computer is sending messages to our GREMLIN's through the main computer, and our GREMLINs are responding back in conversation instead of treating them as error messages like they would normally do."

Jenny then sits and thinks for a moment. "So, one of the odd things is that my GREMLIN - uh, WMB-T was it?...will go off and...I don't know why. But I can't tell that there are any logs of it in the normal logging area. I was wondering if there might be a place it might store that info. Since they're already doing stuff that shouldn't be possible with their programming it seems."

Damon stops to think for a moment. "It might have some hidden files somewhere on it. I've heard some rumors that you are one of the best hackers we have, care to try to look through them to find what you are looking for?" Damon turns to WMB-T. "You wouldn't mind either, right?"

WMB-T seems to make bloops as if it's trying to decide and then bloops in acknowledgment and hovers back toward Jenny.

"I was kinda hoping not to hack my own GREMLIN, but I guess I can try..." Jenny says with a sigh. Jenny takes the tablet and starts tapping on it furiously.

"Okay. Yes. Oh, what's this?" Jenny suddenly stops, having found something of interest. "Looks like some folders that shouldn't be here. Normally the file system is at least nominally human readable in case someone has to go in and do something, but these folders are just random numbers and letters. Or at least seemingly random. Here look." Jenny shows the tablet to Damon.

Damon looks carefully at the screen. "Hmm, is it some sort of cipher or code?"

"Let's see." Jenny looks at the folder names that look odd:

Ev6SKLUGx2e+FCGGiM2HKKerNxY/FsKsXxlHL/W0WMA=  
6IjYU0q1M/H4y3b1GivpFxypRIfvbsMmKMdIra4wAGs=  
LdGpqhVqCdRIskkMZPiBqSKmR3pcDLoIAJ5RQSuJ4nM=  
M1RAQ6ac0vyC0gnHUb+Kwr1C80C/nUOOi7TwxHz14e0=  
Kv/C9r5Dd/FlwT+dTask8k8/k1uVy9BurLYsruBLWkw=  
AfJMqPD7GhYvp3+EN/b6dHpZr1/tCufengYibloylY0=  
S2Y7D9YykrTKr+JsijBA6rUvHOBte57XaHCE677Id+c=  
TfGz0C3gZe0olA/Vt13+OrA8xzUZ2dLWx1XHmKWmGUI=  
0V9l0AIV2yYIDMiAtJOcArxn12RLsa/58Z0rXogh2Wo=  
sX+hj1lleHqtyPInTsg5d7w4WcAeqQ4V9fn70S+S3p4=

"It's not hex. It looks like it may be a cipher of some kind. Let me run it through some decryption algorithms I keep on hand."

Jenny presses some buttons and lets the program on the tablet run. After a minute or two, it bleeps in acknowledgment.

"Ah hah. Well yes, they were encrypted folder names. Have a look." She hands the tablet back over to Damon, displaying the decrypted folder names:

Secure Log 07-2035  
Secure Log 08-2035  
Secure Log 09-2035  
Secure Log 10-2035  
Secure Log 11-2035  
Secure Log 12-2035  
Secure Log 01-2036  
Secure Log 02-2036  
Secure Log 03-2036  
Secure Log 04-2036

Damon gives Jenny a grin while looking at the names. "Well, looks like you were right in being a bit suspicious, seems like WMB-T really was hiding something from you."

Jenny sighs. "Well let's see what it's been up to recently." Jenny opens the last folder, and starts watching a video log, making little comments while watching it. "Uh huh. Where are you going? Wait. You little....!" Jenny slams down the tablet so it's face down as a huge blush flashes up on her face.

Damon's grin widens slightly, but he wipes it off his face after seeing Jenny's embarrassed look. "Something I probably shouldn't be seeing?"

Jenny tries to compose herself. "Just kind of solving a little mini-mystery I suppose." She gives a big side-eye to WMB-T and it responds with cheery sounding bloops and bleeps. Jenny just facepalms and shakes her head.

Damon smiles while standing up, and offers Jenny his hand. "Well, I'm glad I was able to help you with your problem, and that you were able to help me with mine. I'll be seeing you around, yeah?"

"Yeah probably..." Jenny watches the video again, and sighs. "Actually, can I ask one more favor of you. But you absolutely can't tell anyone about this."

Damon raises an eyebrow, but shrugs. "Sure, what do you need?"

"Where on the ship is this?" Jenny hands the tablet back over to Damon, blushing brightly again and not really looking at him. On the tablet is the video she was just looking at it.

In it, a video shot from WMB-T's point of view shows it flying through a corridor, and you can lightly hear singing and water running. WMB-T then turns into the shower area where the singing becomes a bit clearer, and it's clear that it's Jenny singing in one of the showers. WMB-T scans the area and sees a change of clothes on the counter: standard issue uniform shirt and pants, but also a bra and panties on top.

Whirring and light beeping can be heard on the video as WMB-T flies over, inspects the clothes pile, then reaches out with a claw to grab the panties on top. It then merrily chirps as it speeds off out of the shower area and through several corridors until it reaches a ventilation duct somewhere. Another arm pops out and opens the vent. WMB-T then places the panties into the vent on top of at least two other pairs, merrily beeps, then closes the vent and flies off.

Damon stifles a laugh. "I think I know where that is, though you might not be happy to hear." A massive smile begins to spread over Damon's face. "The Commander has been sending us complaints night and day about having issues with his heating and cooling system. Now, I may or may not have broken it at least once for personal reasons, but I did fix it later on. But he kept sending the complaints anyways. I think the ventilation duct leading to his room might be blocked by your...undergarments. You might want to hurry before someone else is sent out though, Shen is getting pretty annoyed, and I think the next person assigned to "fix" it is set to leave in the next couple of minutes.""

"For Christ's sake," Jenny growls as WMB-T continues beeping happily. And here I thought we had a weirdo on board and the weirdo is my own GREMLIN." Jenny sighs again and stands up. "Thanks for your help in figuring this out. I guess I should go, uh, get my items while I can then..."

Damon waves goodbye to Jenny as she rushes out the door. "Good luck!"

+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++∨+++  
Log 33: Zoey “Kohlla” Durand  
15/05/2036  
\--- Post-Mission  
Well… today’s the day. This is it, do or die. We either kill the Elders, or die trying. I can’t believe it’s all come to this. Shegardy, Darksky, Richter, Midnight, Scarlet and Diego. It’s time to avenge you. It’s time to avenge everyone that the aliens have taken from us. Mum. Dad. Aunt Annette. The Network Tower mission went off without a hitch, and I was so glad to see Will come back alive. I felt a rush of emotion come over and I hugged him, holding him close and telling him how worried I was for him. I guess he was more worried for me however, and he quickly planted a kiss on my lips. It came out of nowhere and I wasn’t even able to sense it coming, but after almost ten seconds, I pulled away. Taking his hand, I told him that whilst I was starting to let go of Rumble, I wasn’t ready to love Will yet. I told him that he is my best friend, one of the few people I trust with the one thing more important than my life. My feelings. I walked away to get ready for the final mission, checking over my upgraded gauntlets and armour, but kissing Will made me realize something. Maybe I do need to move on. Not with him, but with someone else. I know Blazkivitz will always be there for me, and I will always be there for him, but I won’t love him. There are others here though, that maybe being consumed by anger and holding onto Diego’s memory made me blind to. Perhaps if I come back from this alive, I’ll be able to take those opportunities. 

The final battle is upon us, and I am ready. I won’t let the Elders manipulate us anymore. It’s time for them to die, and with my friends at my side, I know that we can do this.


	72. Ep 71 - Operation Leviathan (Final Mission)

**Ep 71-----Operation Leviathan-(Final Mission)----------------------------------------**  
Collux had just been at the briefing. He’d been chosen to go on what has been dubbed the ‘final’ mission, along with Kohlla, Billy Terror, Admiral, Eternal and Doc. He was surprised he’d been picked, actually. He had felt for sure he’d be sidelined because Colonel Blazkivitz was the Commander’s favoured sniper and especially since he was paired up with Colonel Durand.

He had defended his decision by stating that they both had different skills to offer, where Collux was more up close and personal, BJ was more of a long distance fighter. Kohlla was the obvious choice for the melee member of the group and she was by far one of the most inspirational soldiers XCom had to offer too. Doc and Eternal were also, as far as Collux was aware, automatically included in the list too because of their flexibility of skills and they had been part of the original thirteen soldiers the Commander started with. So was Jenny, whose hacking skill is second to none, so she was chosen pretty quickly too!

In any case, all soldiers had to be prepared because the Commander would get the mission information coming through at any minute and if there was something different in the information he got than what he knew already, he may switch the team up.

Knock, knock.

Collux frowned, “Who could it be?” he asked himself. He opened the door to find Vintermorgon looking at him, with her beautiful, ocean-blue eyes, but they were blotchy and looked like they had been rubbed hard.

“Colonel Vintermorgon, are you okay?.” Collux said surprised, but without waiting for a response he motioned her to come in and sat her down. “What’s going on? How can I help?”

“I just wanted to see you” She sniffed a little before carrying on, “before you go on the last mission.” She said, sniffing again and her sultry voice was low and husky.

“You’ve been crying!? Are you sure you are okay? Are you in any pain? I could get Damon to-” Collux asked, but he had a faint suspicion that it may be something else.

“I just-” She cut him off, “I just want you to come back whole from this. Can you do that?”

Then he realised. He liked Natalya enough. So much that sometimes it hurt. “For you, Chill, anything.” He thought about this for a moment or two and then hugged her tight. She hugged back and then they drew each other into a kiss. Then they pulled away from each other. “I… I’m sorry. Should I have done that? Is that normal?” Collux started to stutter.

“Yes,” She said smiling, “Perfectly normal.” She placed her hand on his chest armour piece, while curling the other around his back and leant into him.

“But what about Dohmnall… I thought you were-” Collux started but was cut off again.

She raised an eyebrow muscle, since she didn’t have any eyebrows, and looked a little surprised. “Dohm is and always will be a nice guy, nothing more than a friend. You should talk to him, I think you’d hit it off. Anyway, I’ve been able to remember more and I can recall events easier when you’re around. I remember about us before I was poisoned and we were close. I think this is the direction we were heading in anyway, and you know I kinda like it.”

“Oh...” Collux did a sort of weird sideways smile and pressed her body into his, their armour clinking together a little. “I think I like where we are heading too, just as long as neither of us lose our memories. Okay?”

“You got it.” She confirmed, looking at him with her amazing blue eyes. He gazed into them for a while, letting them consume him. Then she kissed him on the cheek “Right,” She said breaking the silence. “Are you all ready?”

“Yes ma’am.” Collux nodded. “My armour is clean. My firearms have been sufficiently field stripped, cleaned, lubricated and put back together again, including the one Colonel Blazkivitz gifted me. I have also checked that all the electronics, pistons and functions are working in the EXO suit I have been issued for the mission.”

“Then, go give them hell.” Natalya said.

He saluted her. “Yes ma’am! For me, you, my sister and everyone at XCom alive or dead, they will pay for their crimes against humanity and ex-Advent kind.” Collux now had a steely stare and stood up. Nodding to Vintermorgon he left his room to go on the mission of his life.

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Personal Log #37, Colonel Jenny Fleet - May 16, 2036

We did it.

We finally found out how the Commander was coming with us: they plugged him back into that suit they found him in and somehow used the psionic network to allow him to control the Avatar we captured from the Forge. Don't ask me how, I'm not a Templar or Psi Operative.

As we were about to go through, those who weren't going gave us some final good byes, not knowing when or even if we were coming back. Vagabond and I fist and hip-bumped our farewell, Kebab ran up to me and gave me a huge hug for luck, while Pineapple just shook my hand and saluted.

The seven of us - The Commander, Kohlla, BillyTerror, Doc, Collux, Eternal, and I stepped through the gate, but any hopes of it somehow being a surprise were dashed right away, although I'm not sure how many of us really expected to sneak up on them after the ADVENT Tower hack and our opening the gate.

The first part of the mission went mostly smoothly. We did encounter a Sectopod Prime and a Sectopod together which gave us some grief, but the team was able to take our shots to take them down, with a help of a mind controlled Firestarter to act as a distraction.

I think a lot of us got a huge confidence boost after we took care of that group with such relative ease. We ran into several more groups, including more Berserkers, MECs, Archons, Vipers, and Mutons, but we all took care of them pretty easily. I would do a play-by-play but it really would just be "we found some aliens and then murdered them a lot" repeated 4 or 5 times.

Along the way we discovered what almost looked like a complex where the aliens could observe...people...in a "natural environment" situation or something. It was just really, really creepy.

Finally, we approached the final chamber, where the aliens were ready to throw everything they had at us. And soon enough we encountered the first Avatar, flanked by an Archon Prime. The Commander mind controlled the prime while Eternal, Kohlla, Collux, and BJ took care of the Avatar.

The aliens continued bringing in reinforcements, including another Avatar. At this point an Archon Prime the Commander mind controlled really came in handy as he was able to distract the incoming alien forces for quite a while.

I got off a good starting shot against the second avatar, allowing Eternal, BJ, the Commander, and Doc to finish it off. The aliens then sent in their third Avatar against us, which the Commander was able to get in some sort of psionic bubble right away. It then teleported right to where BJ could take the shot of his and all of our lives, head-shotting the thing and ending the alien menace once and for all.

Everything around us started destabilizing, but the Commander was able to open the portal long enough for us to get home, and for him to disconnect himself from the Avatar he was controlling. And then that was it. I think we all made our way to the bridge to see the updates about the resistance cells and the spontaneous demonstrations taking on the ADVENT forces worldwide.

This is pretty much the first time I've actually been able to get out of the serpent suit. Things have just been crazy. I'm getting into something a bit more comfortable since we're having a dinner and a party or something later tonight to celebrate. Then I'm sure it will be back to work.  
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Log 35: Zoey “Kohlla” Durand  
Operation Leviathan  
\--- Post-Mission  
As we stood waiting to enter the psionic gate, I could sense what was on the other side. Beings of unimaginable power, and we were heading to face them. The moment we stepped through, we were set upon by a duo of Berserkers, though Odd used the powers at disposal via the Avatar to turn one of them to our side, whilst the other was turned to dust. What awaited us in the next room… was far more powerful. Two Sectopods, a Prime and a regular model, stood before us as the Elders tried to infiltrate our minds and use their words to twist us to their cause. We were having none of it. The first Sectopod fell to the ground in pieces, and using his psionic power once more, the Commander weaved a rift of psionic energy onto the battlefield that churned up the armour of whatever stood within. The Prime responded with an attack of it’s own, directing all of it’s fire on the Commander’s pawn, killing it - though it was better that thing than us. With a duo of shots aimed right at it’s core, Magnusson sent the Prime to the scrapyard alongside the Sectopod it had deployed with.

Everyone loaded back up, ready for a fight. We didn’t get one for a few minutes, leaving us to trawl through the empty, eerie alien hallways, until we stumbled across a pack of Vipers. They all fell in seconds, vaporized by a storm of plasma rounds, the scent of charred scales filling the air. Odd sent me to collect Focus Energy from one of the corpses, though in doing so I uncovered a pack of Berserkers, who immediately charged right for us. Among them were a pair of Primes, one of which succumbed to fear upon seeing the Rage suit, whilst the other fell victim to the Commander’s mind control. I launched into the fray, stabbing my blades through one of the Berserker’s thick, armoured hide, allowing me to taste it’s rage and pain. All that remained was the Mind-Controlled Prime, and with the Commander’s hold over it loosening, we put it down without remorse.

What we uncovered next was almost sickening, but after everything I’ve seen, the impact of it’s horror was dulled to me. It was a “human enclosure” as Shen called it; a fake house in which abducted citizens would live whilst the Elders experimented on them. The enclosure’s eerie emptiness only indicated to me that whoever had once been kept here, had been moved to the Blacksite long ago. The sound of metal clanging against metal signaled the approach of our foes - a squad of MECs, whom were opened fire upon. My shot missed, but my blades did not, and I tore one of the MECs into a mound of scrap metal, which was the fate the other MECs met at the hands of the rest of the squad.

Pushing forward, our paths crossed with a squad of Vipers and Archons, though just like every foe before them, they fell like nothing. I finished off one of the Archons, right as a squad of Mutons emerged from the shadows, one of which the Commander twisted to our cause, using to absorb shot after shot, just like the pawns before it. Continuing to use his new psionic powers, he generated another rift on the battlefield, enveloping the Mutons. Amongst the chaos, I noticed an Archon lurking amongst the darkness, and relayed this to Will - whom summarily executed the creature.  
Now, only one thing stood between us and the Elders. Entering their chamber, they tried to plead and reason with us, before conjuring a trio of Avatars to the field, controlling their bodies like puppets. The closest of the three was flanked by an Archon on either side, though they did not keep us from unleashing our hatred against the Avatar. Seeing my opportunity, I rushed into the battle, plunging my blades into the creature and eagerly drinking in the pain that belonged to it’s master. The Commander took ahold of one of the Avatar’s bodyguards, right as Will blasted the Avatar to pieces. The Elder controlling it exploded in an eruption of Psionic energy, leaving us to kill off it’s former entourage right as a trio of Codices and Chryssalids arrived on the field. I ripped through the latter party with my blades, shearing through their Chitinous plating with ease. Their pain was massive in their final moments, but nothing compared to the suffering of an Elder. Another pack of Chryssalids made their way into the battle, but so too did the next Avatar, which was protected by a group of Vipers. My hatred however, was targeted upon the last remaining Codex, and my shard gauntlets tore their bodies apart with ease, absorbing their psionic energy. The psionic gate closest to me flashed with teleportation energy, spitting out three Faceless where I stood. With a swipe of my blades, all three of them collapsed on the ground as piles of clay-like flesh. At the same time, the second Avatar fell, eviscerated by a storm of gunfire and psionic power.

With a blast of teleportation energy, the final Avatar entered the fight, flanked by Priests and Spectres. This was it, this was our chance to finally end ADVENT once and for all. Kill one creature, and everything was over. Starting off the fight with a Void Rift, the Commander tore apart the Avatar with it’s torrent of churning energies, and with a single shot, everything was over. Will’s blast of plasma energy pierced it’s spine, ending it’s life right there and then, causing the Elder’s body to erupt in psionic power. The feedback closed the gate, our only way out, but I accepted fate. We had won today, even if it meant we could never go home. And then - the Commander opened the gate once more, keeping it open with his psionic power. I wasted no time in getting through, but even once we were back on the Avenger, I could sense what was happening on the other side. There was a massive surge of psionic energy, which rapidly grew into a maelstrom, before ending abruptly with a huge cacophony of raw psionic power. We had done it.

We had won.

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Journal Entry 35#  
Name: Will 'Billy-Terror' Blazkivitz  
Date: 16th May 2036  
Operation: Leviathan

Well, this was unexpected. The Commander took over the body of this Avatar thing and is coming with us to the fight. I was with the others as we saluted the Commander before following him through the portal. What a change in fucking scenary, we get some talk and a show of the Elders doing their best to control the shit show they started twenty years ago. We weren't buying your crap back then and sure as shit not doing it now.

Straight off the bat, my main girl finds a Berserker and Firestarter, the Commander actually takes over the mind of the Firestarter with ease as myself and Addy gun down the Berserker. Not long we find a Sectopod with a Secto Prime, I try my luck but miss the Prime it ducks quickly. Fortunately, Doc, Collux and Eternal destroy the normal Sectopod leaving the Prime till later. The Commander throws a psi-blast at the prime while it shoots up our Firestarter meat shield. It was ha;f destroyed but the Commander was worried about its armour. Maybe if Collux and I had those fancy Hunter weapons they wouldn't be an issue now, would it? 'Sir.' 

Meanwhile, Doc Ruptures the big bot as it fires on Eternal but our Ranger returns to the sender with two shots of his own putting it down. That dealt with we reload and push up, the Commander spies a Boa, Mamba and a Wyvern. Sir manages to get a surprise hit on the Boa while Addy manages to put down the Mamba in one shot before wounding the Wyvern as well. Collux flanks and puts down the Boa with two more shots, I move to shoot the Wyvern with my pistol but on m,y first miss the Commander asks if I'm nervous, I reply but hitting my second shot getting the kill. Game over, Sir.

Kohlla runs ahead to grab some energy but gets spotted by a Berserker and a Prime as well as a Firestarter and a Prime. The Commander makes it easier on us by taking over the Firestarter Prime's mind. Addy softens up the Berserker as Doc also does so to the Prime while Collux and I set up a crossfire Killzone. Eternal Blasts the forcing it to move prompting Collux to get the kill. Then together we kill the normal Berserker before I get a shot in on the Firestarter. The Commander uses the Prime to distracted the Firestarter while Kohlla charges in with a slash and Eternal go in for the kill shot.

Shortly the team finds a group of MEC units both normal and Riot variants but one is gunned down by overwatch while two are crippled to near shutdown. Kohlla runs in and destroys a MEC, Doc sets up holo-targeting on one hiding in smoke which prompts Collux to shoot hitting it but not before finishing the other MEC with his pistol. Addy and Eternal work together to finish off the one in the smoke cloud.

The team pushed up before finding an Archon with a Prime along with a Viper with a Prime, though the normal Archon and Viper Prime were gunned down by overwatch fire. Eternal gives two close-range shots on the Prime but misses on, it attempts to flee but Kohlla chases it down before cutting it down. However, this prompts the attention of an Archon Sentinel with two Mutons. The Commander takes control of one Muton while Doc guns down the Viper, Collux sets up a Killzone while I break the Sentinels overwatch. They both stay put though, the Sentinel going on overwatch while the Muton enemy fires on it's former ally. 

The Commander decides to psi-blast the three and kills both Mutons while wounding the Sentinel, Kohlla runs up to spot for me and while I shot “Stay out of the way!” I line up just past my partner and nail the freak. Them down, we push up to the main room and see our target. An avatar, one of them anyway, now the real fight begins.

We push up and find the Avatar guarded by a Sentinel and Archon Prime. The Commander takes over the mind of the Prime while Eternal charges the Avatar with a sword slash prompting her to flee. Kohlla gives chase with her sword slash and then Collux uses his rocket to force the bitch out of hiding. I then take advantage of this by flying to a good vantage point and give two shots to finish the cow off, though I wasn't quite finished as I gave the Sentinel two pistol shots. Addy and Doc work together to finish it off.

Now at this point, we had to deal with waves if various ADVENT and Aliens but as much as I love gifts in forms a shooting gallery the important things were the Avatars so I'll focus on the next fight. While Aliens were infighting and Kohlla was on the Faceless cleanup duty, Addy gets a flank on the bastard Avatar and gets a critical hit in. Eternal punches a Codex in the face before blowing up the Avatar with his rocket. Doc sends a plasma bomb at the Chrysalids just after our turret guns one down, I decide to clean up them, with a shot each before hitting the Avatar. 

The Commander uses mind powers to chase it down and hit through like 5 different walls and Doc get lucky with the bastard teleporting into his sights before he guns it down. Two down and one to go. The Last Avatar comes in with Spectres and ADVENT Priest support while I spy our Prime has finally been taken down. The Commander in turn runs in and drops a mega psi storm on the Avatar's group forcing it to teleport. 

Now, it was my time to be a hero. I fly up to flank the last Avatar and line my shot directly at his head, lets test if you could predict this then ass hole. I count to four, inhale, count to four, exhale, then I pull the trigger. The last Avatar dropped like ten pounds of shit in a five pound bag. I did it, we did it, we finally killed them. 

Immediately the Commander hasted us back to the portal and for a moment when it went down things looked grim. Though the Commander managed to reopen and keep the connection stable to get us all home. I'm not sure what happened to the Commander as he stayed behind but thankfully he was back in his normal body in the end. 

We fucking did it people, drinks are one me people, fuck it, two rounds on me. Signing off.

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Firebrand's personal log - May 18th 2036 (Entry #69) - Post-Leviathan

Let me take you back to before the Fortress mission first ... Yes, the garbled transmissions that were reaching the Skyranger's comms, that was Dr. Vahlen trying to reach us. It was either interference from the ADVENT Network Tower or the signal frequency wasn't just right. But she got through, as soon as I unloaded the boys from the taking over the Network Tower. I transferred her to my headset, grabbed the said equipment and ran off to the Shadow Chamber. The Commander had just gotten in that old stasis suit of his. He was about to control that Avatar ... Wow, that was just so ... awesome to see. Anyway, after protests, I literally shoved the headset into Central's hands. He got to talk to the good Doctor ... Bradford seemed happy. At least for the few minutes until we reached the bridge. Yeah, I went there with him.

Then he gave me the headset and put his gameface on, while I kept Vahlen informed about how the Fortress mission was going ... until the very end of it. There were victorious shouts on both ends of that communication link, as soon as the Commander began recovering in the Shadow Chamber. After all that, I left the headset with Bradford who resumed talking to Vahlen. Hopefully he asks her out, when this is all over ... I had the feeling for a long time that there had been something between the two of them back in the old days. Rekindling that 'something' would definitely be in order.

As for myself ... I briefly celebrated with the bridge staff, before heading down to the barracks to congratulate The Magnificent Six. The party was already on. Before I even got to leave, I spotted Kohlla leaving. I didn't follow, felt that maybe she wanted to be alone. I went to the wall in the Memorial Bar and paid my respects to those who had joined us on the journey but hadn't had the chance to complete it. Everyone, all good people.

This is only just beginning though. It's far from over. I know I haven't taken my last flight off the Avenger. Next time though, I'd surely like to join the fight. The least I could do is help up with the cleaning and taking out the trash. You know what I mean.

For now, I need some rest. But I will be back. Like The Terminator.

Firebrand out.

P.S. You will never guess who just asked me out. Yeah ... that's right. Wonder Woman. Well, what the hell do you think I answered? Captain Obvious.

 

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Damon Nights’ Final Audio Log: May 16th, 2036

Alright, today is the day! It’s time for the final mission, if we can pull this off, we'll be changing history, for better or worse. Oh yeah! I’m joined by a special guest today, my fiancee, Chloe. Feel free to say hi. **What’s up everyone!** So yeah, on to the mission. Damn, so it turns out the Commander is the one controlling that Avatar suit, hope he comes back alive, as much as I’ve doubted his decisions in the past, we’ve all been through so much, it would be terrible if he was to die. The Elders gave their last chance for peace before the squad moved in. Right off the bat the squad encountered two Berserkers, one normal, the other a Firestarter. The Commander mind controlled the Firestarter while the rest of the squad killed the normal Berserker. Next room contained two Sectopods, a Prime and a normal one. Can’t say I feel sorry when I watched our Firestarter die to the Sectopod Prime. They took more effort than the Berserkers, but in the end the Sectopods also fell. While the squad was prepping some overwatch shots to deal with anything that gets too close, one unlucky Viper happened to walk into the line of sight of ‘Doc,’ and it did not survive. Though this revealed the squad to a nearby group of Vipers, they were already prepared. Didn’t take long for the squad to wipe the Viper group out after that. Kohlla was sent ahead to pick up some leftover psionic power from when one of the Vipers died, but she ended up revealing the squad to a large group of Berserkers. **Hey Chloe, can you do that?** Do what? Reveal myself? No, collect psionic power from fallen enemies. **No, I’m only a Templar-in-training.** Oh, okay, cool. Umm, back to Berserkers. One of the big ones saw ‘Eternal’ run in with his Rage Suit, and it started blubbering in fear. The Commander then mind controlled another of the Firestarters, seems like he has an affinity for them. Didn’t take long for the rest of the group to get killed, especially with the double kill-zone from Collux and Blazkivitz. The Commander decided that his Berserker would be better off dead, so everyone ganged up on it. Everyone moved ahead some more, while prepping overwatch shots along the way. Didn’t take too long before a group of four Advent Mecs showed up. But hell, even Advent’s more powerful robots didn’t stand a chance today. Another overwatch prep, another unwary group of Aliens, this time it was two Vipers and two Archons. And just like everything else the squad has come across, this group of Aliens was wiped out. Well, as soon as that group was destroyed, another Alien group appeared, an Archon, and two Mutons. The Commander mind controlled one of the Mutons and had it attack the other, while the rest of the squad worked on killing the Archon. In an attempt to end the skirmish, the Commander sacrificed his Muton in order to kill the other with a psionic rift.

Finally, the Elders and their Avatars decided to show up. While making their way towards the Avatars to end them for good, the Speaker and the Elders themselves were trying to dissuade us from this course of actions. I doubt anyone actually listened, and if they did no one showed it. So, the squad kept moving forward until they found the first Avatar, along with two Archons. The Commander mind controlled one of the Archons while the squad hammered down on the Avatar. Didn’t take much longer for Blazkivitz was able to destroy the first Avatar, driving out at least one Elder. Once the Archon not under our control was killed, three Codices teleported into the room, as well as three Chryssalids. Thankfully those six Aliens proved naught but a distraction for the squad, who powered on to find the next Avatar. Seems like the squad is pretty “lucky,” because before they were able to deal with the rest of the that one group of Aliens, the next Avatar showed up, along with four Vipers. Knew this mission wasn’t going to be easy, because as soon as most of the Codices were killed, three Advent Mecs showed up. Oh, and unnoticed by anyone was yet another group of Chryssalids. And some Faceless showed up as well. I am honestly losing hope right now, how is our small squad of seven soldiers even supposed to be able to deal with all these goddamn Aliens. Next Avatar was downed, but before the squad could begin clean-up duty, the final Avatar showed up with a few reinforcements: two Advent Priests, and two Spectres. The Commander’s Archon was able to take some heat and deal some damage before it died, but it’s death meant our left flank was left unguarded. And then even more fucking Chryssalids showed up. **Language!** What? It’s true! The fact that there are so many goddamn Aliens is frustrating! **Still, imagine who might be listening to this in the future. What if we had a child, and they wanted to know what their father used to do, and they heard you swearing here?** Why the hell would you let our child listen to war recounts? Touche. Anyways, I have a feeling we’re almost done. Holy fuck! Chloe did you see that! Yes! Yes I did! My god isn’t that incredible! Blazkivitz just destroyed the last Avatar with one shot! How is that even possible? **I don’t know, maybe he got some sort of headshot?** I guess that might be the case, but damn, you can’t not be impressed! **I never said I wasn’t!** Well, after all of that everyone was rushed out of there, though the Commander was stopped momentarily by the Elders, but he was able to drive them off. Damn, it’s over, the Elders are gone, and without them Advent is uncoordinated and weakened.

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War recount 67

Well this is it, we won, we actually did it. The Commander went in as the Avatar to get the team through and mind controlled a Firestarter, Firestarter Prime, Muton, and an Archon Prime. Half way through the team found a human "enclosure" of some sorts, which raised more questions than I think anybody has ever had before about Advent and the aliens. Eventually the team went through a door and rested for a minute to be as ready as possible for what lied ahead. What indeed lied ahead was the first of the Avatars that had to be killed. Three Avatars in total and each was a game of cat and mouse with BJ killing the first and last and Doc getting the second. With the Elders killed the Psionic portal fell and the fear that the squad wasn't coming back hit everyone for a second. But only a second as the Commander in his Avatar body held the gate open just long enough to get everybody out before the Elders tried once more to take him but our Commander isn't that easy and he fought back as the base fell to the sea floor. And with that we win.

Signing out  
Jebediah Primm


	73. - Epilogue -

**\------------------------Epilogue--------------------------------------------------------------**  
Zoey's Epilogue:

It’s almost like a dream. We finally kicked the aliens off of our planet. Earth belongs to humanity once more! And yet, I still can’t believe it, even though I knew this was our path all along. After so many losses, I still can’t believe that we finally won. Of course, there are still stragglers, and I won’t stop fighting until they are dead too; but the success today is that the Elders have all fled, leaving their forces in ruins. I’ve already signed up to be a part of the patrols that are going around and exterminating what remains of the ADVENT coalition, and our first patrol is in just a few hours. I’m not going to there isn’t a single alien remaining. 

After we all returned from the mission and celebrated, I managed to slip away from the party. I wandered over to Rumble’s grave, and paid him his final respects. If only he could’ve been here, to experience our victory. If only he could’ve been here to experience it with me. I love you Rumble, and wherever you are, I hope you know that your sacrifice was not in vain. And Scarlet, I hope you know that too. Both of you were taken from us too soon, both of you should’ve been here to experience this, but your sacrifices helped us to get this far. 

I paid my respects to the rest of our fallen, as well as three others. Three people whom were never even given the respect of having their own graves. My mother, my father, and aunt Annette. All killed by ADVENT as part of their schemes. I’m happy to know that wherever they are, I finally avenged them.

As I said before, I’m preparing for my first patrol. A small group of ADVENT loyalists has holed themselves up in some pretty strong fortifications, and is time they were wiped out. Visiting the graves of everyone I’ve lost has given me some clarity today. It’s time for me to move on, once all of this is behind us. Before I was taken by ADVENT and their Priests, I was just a girl, who didn’t even know how to pick up a weapon. But I don’t want to go back to that. And yet, I can’t keep fighting all of my life, especially once my main enemy is dead and gone. I also can’t keep holding onto Rumble, as much as I loved him. I’ll always remember him, and honour him, but I won’t spend all of my life holding on to him. It’s time to move on, and I will, sooner or later. I’ll move on in my own way. I’ve already asked Firebrand on a date, once everything has cleared up. Maybe I do still have the ability to love in me. I guess I’ll just have to find out.

Vigilo Confido.

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Will 'Billy-Terror' Blazkivitz - Epilogue

Fuck me I never thought we'd celebrate like that but given half the world was even fighter or celebrating, guess it gives a damn good reason to party. I of course had to set up a drinking contest and turns out Beast was not only a beast on the field, but also with alcohol. He could hold his drink. 

I mingled and jested, some of the guys asking how did I managed to destroy not one but two Avatars, with teamwork of course but the second one got wrecked. Man, such a good fucking time. I managed to pull Kohlla to the side for a little private talk and I simply wanted to know where they sat now. I got an answer I didn't at first like but after hearing her out, I was satisfied, honestly I was.

As nice as my awesome kissing skills were, Zoey thought that she couldn't return the sentiment, as much as she likes me and I'm me, what's not to like? She only saw me as a friend, but as her 'best friend'. I'll settle for that, silver medal can be as cool as gold you know? 

I'm completely respectful to my partner's feelings. This war has been tough on all of us. I simply told my main girl to enjoy herself while she can, I look forward to hunting down ADVENT simplifiers hiding now and that if she ever changes her mind, look him up. I let her be and returned to the party.

Now while the party was fantastic, the moment we were able to give proper burials to those who had fallen was even better. Comrades in arms or in the shadows we honoured them. There sacrifices weren't vain as it led to us finally winning. The Elders and Aliens dogs were off our planet while it was only a matter of time left for ADVENT.

We won, screw you xeno bastards and the horse you rode in on. We're not gonna take it, anymore! GET PSYCHED!

 

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Personal Log, Major General Jenny Fleet - July 13, 2036

I've been promoted to XCOM Commander for the Western Europe region, which is pretty exciting, if not also fairly daunting.

Now that it's pretty much the sole military and peacekeeping force on the planet, XCOM has been trying to expand and establish more permanent regional presences, at least until the new world governments can take care of their own security, and this is the first part of this process.

This position has several roles that are a part of it:

1) I'm part of the 16 member XCOM Global Command Council - whose membership consists of the XCOM Commanders of each of the 16 former ADVENT Administrative sectors.

2) Help the provisional post-occupation governments in the area coordinate with each other as well as with XCOM Global Command.

3) Lead the fight against any remaining ADVENT and Alien forces in hiding in the area who have yet to surrender.

4) Lead the effort to deal with the Lost in the abandoned cities in the way most appropriate. There are some people out there who have hope that they can be helped in some way, but many others think that the only solution will ultimately be to just dispose of them.

5) Coordinate with the local provisional governments to give support to rebuilding efforts.

6) Help set up the Western Europe branch of the ADVENT War Crimes Tribunal that is being set up.

Most of these provisional governments are only weeks old, and are largely made up of the resistance leadership from the cells that operated in those areas and have - for the time being - split into five areas governed by their own provisional governments.

My first job is to recruit for all the posts I have to fill. Man, there are a lot of them too. I already feel like there is more work to do than I can possibly get done.

I'll get a lot of help with this from my XO, Colonel Bruce "Pineapple" Thunder who, yes, is allowed to keep his crazy hair in this position despite his role as executive officer. He'll be helping me review a list of candidates to fill a number of roles, which I'm sure will include some of my XCOM compatriots.

On a more personal level, Bruce and I are dating now. I guess it started at the "we kicked the alien's asses" celebration party and just continued from there. Neither of us really asked the other, but I guess once you start living together, sleeping together, and otherwise acting like a couple, then you're a couple haha.

But seriously, he's awesome. I know things turned out well in the end, but there was a time during the war against ADVENT that I was seriously unsure about my usefulness to the team and the Commander and Bruce helped me get through a lot of that. I probably started getting feelings for him back then, I just didn't really realize it. I think I can sometimes be dense to things that are obvious to other (as WMB-T can attest to).

But now that I've been promoted I outrank him, which definitely means I get to order him around the house a lot more now :D (just kidding).

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Personal Log, Major General Jenny Fleet - August 28, 2036

We've increasingly been getting a lot of anomalous readings from the ocean waters off of the coast of nearly every continent. The most active region in my area is from the Skagerrak, which is largely where I grew up when I was on my father's fishing boat, and the area I often operated when gathering intelligence for the resistance.

As a result, I've been granted control over a commandeered ADVENT patrol ship, rechristened the Thomas Richter and we're making preparations to start patrolling and studying what these anomalies might be.

I'm not sure I'll be able to lead these investigations in person forever, but I do want to be there in person when we begin, just in case we find something immediately. Bruce is also coming with me to help assist with the observations and surveying that we intend to do.

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Personal Log #3: Executive Officer Colonel Bruce “Pineapple” Thunder – July 14th 2036:

So I guess I'm still writing journal entries. Kinda makes me feel like a teenage girl, but an order's an order, and I can admit, it does somewhat help to clear my head. The order comes from none other than Major General Jenny “The Admiral” Fleet, West Europe's newly appointed XCOM commander, and my new direct superior. Well, if that isn't a switch. I'm not sure she was being serious about the order though, the one thing I can say about my new commanding officer is that she enjoys frequently exercising her power in the most unprofessional manner. “Bruce, get me a drink.” “Bruce, take care of those dishes” “Bruce, come into this bedroom and...” well, you get the idea. I know she's just teasing, but she makes a good point about the logs. This new position is going to be a bit more administrative than I'm used to. Continuing with these journal updates will serve as a stress reliever and a warm-up for a bit of the white collar life. 

Anyways, speaking of Jenny, I'm afraid to say I may have overindulged at the big XCOM shindig we held as a final “Fuck You” to Advent. I seem to remember letting a bit loose and giving some words to some feelings I had, up until that point, held privy to myself. With a lot of people it turns out. My fellow soldiers have taken quoting one or two of my given affections of that night, which I admit makes it a slight bit harder to hold my head up as high as I'm used to. Though most clearly of all the slightly hazy memories of that night, was some particularly substantial words I had for “The Admiral.” To which my relationship with has been, ah, slightly less professional as of late. I'm not complaining. 

Personal Log #4: Executive Officer Colonel Bruce “Pineapple” Thunder – August 28th 2036:

So much for “the white collar life.” Possible Alien activity has been reported in various regions of the world's oceans. Commander Girlfriend is personally leading the preliminary investigation of the nearest region, as it happens to be in waters she's intimately familiar with. I write this log from aboard the Thomas Richter as I insisted on joining the mission myself, and there's no telling what we might find. Good thing I kept the ol' Thunder Gun polished, I've a good feeling it just might come in handy.

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Julian’s Epilogue

It is over. Against all odds calculated by every single computer on this hunk of rock, the organization that formerly called themselves by the name of Advent has been forced from this world. One would think it would be a massive shift, as though the battles of old history had returned once more to haunt the present day. But alas, it was far more quiet end to this war than some I know would have wished for. Still the shift was there, and we all felt it. It happened all at once. The air changed, and freedom was reborn in an instant. The network of Advent’s psionics fell like dominoes and its horrid puppet pawns fled like frightened children before the fleshlings’ forces, driven like sheep before the slaughter and destroyed one by one till none would remain. Our world was free. Father…. Your wish is finally granted. I only wish you were here to see it. It’s beautiful today. There’s so much joy in the air, people hugging, crying, chanting words of love and affection that I never would have otherwise seen pass their lips. For the first time in this whole crazy life I’ve had. I think I understand what beauty is. Beauty is warmth, life, the hope for a better day. One can even find beauty in the most unlikely of places. And for the first time. I’m not afraid of what's about to happen. Much of Advent still remains, but they will be gone before long. That is a fight I will follow and win. And from there, I think I will continue to study the beauty this world has to offer. My own teammates seem to be an acceptable starting point themselves, as Miss Durand can attest. I don't know what put that smile on her face when she came back from the skyranger, nor do i know what brought the smile to the face of that crazy pilot of ours, but I think I would like to know one day. Lily calls it love, but I don't know how much knowledge she has on that emotional parameter.  
But I’ve rambled enough. I will be making more logs in future, but these will be my own research and if I’m lucky, they will be from a place I call home. I can set aside foolish thoughts of the future though. There is still the victory to celebrate with my teammates, and that shall be a party like no other. No matter what happens, whatever the future holds, I will not be alone

 

Julian signing off  
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Damon’s Epilogue

It’s finally over. Our struggles have finally paid off. Everything we have done to achieve this better have been worth it, because the fate of our planet is in our hands now. I don’t really know what I’m going to do with myself now. I don’t really have anything to go back to. I’m going to ask Collux what he plans on doing after all this, maybe we can stick together, though I don’t know if he would be interested in that. Actually, I do have a slight plan, so Chloe wants to continue her Templar training, and I don’t want to lose her again. So, we’re going to settle down near the Templar headquarters, eventually, not yet though. For now, she will keep her training up, and I’ll...be somewhere, doing whatever it is XCOM needs of me. If the Commander calls, I’ll come running, though I have Chloe back, there’s still an empty place inside of me that needs to be filled. But I do have something in mind that I think she will love. I mentioned once months and months ago that I wanted to celebrate the life and legacy of our fallen soldiers, but other people thought it was too soon to do something like that. But I’ve been still been planning, and I’ve finally got something ready. We are going to do the celebration soon, very soon. And I think I’m going to ask Central or the Commander if either of them have the power to marry us. I know it is a bit soon, but if Chloe and I are to be separated again, well, I don’t know what I would do. That’s why I’ve gotten a bit of help, I can’t say who has done this, but someone sent me two wedding bands with small gemstones set in them, and it may just be me, but I feel like they are connected somehow. Well, this is it, for the first time ever I’m going to say it.

Second Engineering Officer Damon Nights, signing off.  
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War recount Jebediah Primm Epilogue

Well this was it. The people are rising against Advent as we speak/you read this. I'm gonna have a lot of work as Advent is having a load of there bases and toys being turned against them and I have to get word to resistance cells in their area and Bradford. Khane told me that Reapers are finally going back into their cities and not staying in hiding anymore so who knows, maybe they'll finally start eating actual food now. Pox sent word that more and more Advent are "Repenting their false gods as to join the fight cleaning out the filth of the aliens and their mark on the world" or however he put it. And finally Pharaoh, or should I say Kiana. Kinda forgot she had a real name but all she said was that the Templars are continuing on their efforts fighting Advent and she's going out. When I'm done my random duties as Comms Officer on the Avenger I'm gonna become Field Comms Officer and travel with any soldiers that are still going out to fight and am gonna fight where I can, confuse the enemy with my radio and send details of what we do back to the Avenger. Hopefully I can run into Pharaoh, I mean Kiana, out there. I'm gonna be given a standard issue pistol for the fighting and a specially made radio that's portable but still long range.  
Signing out for the final time  
Jebediah Primm  
That is unless another group of aliens attacks but come on that's not gonna happen.

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(Post Operation Leviathan)  
RP log between Kohlla and Firebrand

It has been several days since the fall of the Elders and Advent’s defeat by XCOM. There was a lot of celebrations on the Avenger when the mission was a success. Lots of drinking, laughter, and dancing like there’s no tomorrow. No doubt most of the crew woke up hungover after the celebration. But it was well earned. As for Firebrand? She was mostly doing her usual stuff, but she did celebrate with a few drinks with the people she considers as family. She was glad the commander made it out as alive as well. Despite some of his blunders and her frustrations towards him, she put trust that he would save humanity and so he did. As the bar was empty, she took a look at the memorial to the soldiers who gave their lives so XCOM prevails against Advent.

“20 years of Advent cracking down on us. A whole year-long campaign against nearly impossible odds. It has been tough, but we did it. I only wish you guys were there to see it” She muses to herself as she looks at the soldiers who fell in the field of battle: Pagenn “Raven” Darksky, Hamad “Al Shegardy” Bn Green, Thomas “The Judge” Richter, Diego “Rumble” Ramirez, James “Midnight” Castellano, and Scarlet “Reaper” Barton. The losses took her hard, but she managed to move forward for the sake of her family. As she takes a look, she notices the door opening as someone coming in. And it was none other than Zoey “Kohlla” Durand herself. Both women gave warm smiles before hugging each other. 

“I’m glad you made it. I was worried about you. All of you.” Firebrand sighed in relief. Zoey nodded “Thank you, Firebrand. It means a lot. Let’s have a seat, we have a lot to talk about”. Both the Pilot and the Templar take a seat and began to have a friendly conversation. “Don’t think I’ve seen you celebrating with the other crew members. Not that I celebrate with them that often either.” Zoey muses. Firebrand shrugged “I had a few drinks with some of the crew to celebrate, yes. Still, I’m a pilot at heart, so I didn’t participate a lot with the celebrations” She continued her talk and asked Kohlla “Now that we’re here, do you have any thoughts about what you’re aiming to do now that the war’s over?” Zoey gave it a thought, then decides to speak. “I’ve already joined up with some of the extermination squads. I’m going to keep it up until not a single one of those pieces of alien scum remains. After that, I don’t know... there’s nowhere for me to return, other than to the Templars, but I don’t think I will. Aside from that, I have no family or other friends to reunite with.” Firebrand raised her eyebrows and decides to pry without giving it a second thought. “What happened to your family?” Nice job, Firebrand. Now she’ll go berserk on you, She thought to herself. 

Zoey looked down at the table, still hearing Firebrand scolding to herself for asking but decides to oblige with a sigh. “It’s fine, I’ll tell you what happened to them.” She continues as she gives her story. “When ADVENT’s Priests and Cultists kidnapped me because of my psionic potential, they took my parents too. My Aunt, called Annette disappeared a few days before the invasion. I guess after they took her, they realized that I had psionic potential too. My mother and father however, didn’t. And rather than take them prisoner when they kidnapped me, the ADVENT soldiers executed them here and there. It’s easier to bury a body than to keep a prisoner alive, especially when those prisoners have nothing of value.” Looking to Firebrand, she smiled softly, though remained otherwise stoic. “How about you? Got any family of your own?” 

Firebrand took a pause for few seconds as she answers to Kohlla “Not that I know of. I was merely a young pilot in training 20 years back during the first invasion. There was another pilot called Big Sky. No one knew about it, but I was in a relationship with him. He disappeared when the whole shit went down. I’m not sure if he’s even alive at this point. And even if he is, I don’t think we’d able to rekindle the love we had 20 years ago.” Love. It was something Kohlla felt when she got close to Rumble. As with all Templars, she can sense the feelings of other people and it didn’t take long until she was in love with him. His death as well the death of her close friend Scarlet Barton still hit hard and she let out few tears rolling down her cheeks, then dried them out. She sniffed and took a look at the memorial. Firebrand may not be psionic herself, but she can still sense the sadness that holds the Templar deep inside. She put her hand onto Kohlla’s shoulder to give some words of encouragement “Rumble and Reaper would be very proud of you and all of us on defeating the aliens. Their deaths will always eat us inside, but we should honor their memory as best we can and move forward” Zoey looked back to Firebrand. “True. This whole campaign gave me a lot of perspective. I can’t keep fighting like this and I can’t let my anger consume me and make me blind. I will always love Rumble, but I must move on for the sake of his memory and mine” Firebrand smiled warmly at Zoey knowing the Templar herself would do her best to make her own future on her own terms. 

“Which reminds me. We need to talk about us, Firebrand” The pilot couldn’t help but feel a bit flustered. “We do have a lot of work ahead of us. But when this is all over, I would like to go on a date with you” Zoey said in a firm tone as she was firm in her request. Firebrand gave a very warm smile as she cups the Templar’s hand to her cheeks. “For you, Wonder Woman? Anything for the world” Then she gave a warm kiss to Zoey’s hand. Both women went into loving embrace as they realize how much they mean to each other. Earth itself still has to recover, but humanity at long last has been free.

“One day, you gonna have to indulge on who is Wonder Woman” Zoey mused. “I”ll tell you on our date. But for now, we still got a lot of work ahead of us. Those alien bastards aren’t going down without a fight. At least what’s left of them.” Firebrand chuckled. Both women share in laughter and give each other a warm kiss on the lips as they go out of the bar and head out to their tasks. Kohlla and Firebrand still have struggles ahead of them and the scars of war may have shaken them. But in spite of all that, they have each other and they’re gonna spend a lot of time with a whole life and peace when this is all over. Together.

The End.  
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(Epilogue) Stefan ‘Mr Bavaria’ Brücker:  
Well we survived the last battle for Earth. Many of us now have the chance to start lives as if ADVENT never existed. When I find enough ingredients I will hold a feast for the the fallen on August 17th every year. We will toast to Diego Rodriguez, Scarlett Barton, Raymond Shen, Pagenn Dark Sky, Hamad Bn Green, and countless more who gave up everything to free Earth. I’ve been thinking, I’m not getting any younger and I think I found somebody I can settle down with. I’ll ask and see what happens. Before I log off I need to prep something for “Kebab” and “Vagabond’s” date. Stefan out, for now.

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Performing first time setup…

<0933:04 20.05.2036> Enter new Administrator ID: LILY SHEN_  
<0933:08 20.05.2036> Create new password: ************_  
<0933:13 20.05.2036> Confirm new password: ************_  
<0933:15 20.05.2036> Connecting to Avenger intranet…  
<0933:21 20.05.2036> Enter network password: *************_  
<0933:30 20.05.2036> Connected.  
<0933:32 20.05.2036> Create (N)ew Device ID or (R)estore data from Avenger Cloud?_  
<0933:35 20.05.2036> R  
<0933:37 20.05.2036> Browse: Private Folder> [REDACTED] > [REDACTED]> [REDACTED]> [REDACTED]

Copying files…  
<1045:12 20.05.2036> File transfer complete. Restarting…

DISPLAY LOG (ROV-R)  
Good morning, Administrator LILY SHEN  
It has been 17 days since your last activity

<1045:20 20.05.2036> It is good to be back!  
> Engine online  
> Sensors online  
> Weapons online  
> All systems nominal  
<1051:46 20.05.2036> Installation of combat interface complete.

SUPER HEAVY INFANTRY VEHICLE (S.H.I.V), designation = ROV-R  
IS READY TO DEPLOY

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Personal Log, Squaddie Liam “Harbinger” O’Neal: Entry 1

 

Well, despite my planning to write down constant logs during the conflict I was so busy with my covert operations and tech work that I never got around to doing it until now, glad to see that we have finally dealt a major blow to Advent, alas I know it’s not over not yet anyways, I know Advent...I was Advent and they are stubborn as hell they will continue to attempt to convince the naive civilians to stay under their rule, unfortunately there are people dumb enough to believe their lies and manipulations but I will try my best to save those people...by leaving XCOM and soldier life to instead helping with the expansion of our Resistance network, I never really was a proper member of this organisation, wasn’t close with anyone not even my closet acquaintance “Poet”, I never even went on a proper on field operation which I’m personally glad for since my weapon training is poor and I would have likely been killed by one of those bullcrap “Prime” units hell let's not exaggerate I would of been killed by a standard Advent grunt, my talents as a technician are probably better spent helping people directly.

 

I wish everyone here on the Avenger a good long life, I myself have recently found out via meditational therapy sessions with Zoey that I have some sort of serious mental damage dealt by the time an Advent Priest attempted to mind control me, would explain my lack of sanity according to her I only have about another 5 years left in my life, so I’m going on my “early” retirement to do something good for once in my life...it might not redeem me for my acts at Advent and for failing to protect the rest of my team.

 

I guess this is karma for getting you killed eh Jayko?

 

See you soon “Deadput” you old prick.

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25 Sep 2036  
Vagabond’s and Kebab’s epilogue:

We stayed with XCOM for a while longer after the fall of Advent and went on several more missions to clean up the Lost, but Hunter began to feel restless on the Avenger. Neither of us ever thought of what we wanted to do after the war and he was feeling the call of the wild again. It was time for him to go, and I followed.

Hunter showed me the basics of wilderness survival and hunting, while I taught him how to scavenge the abandoned towns for goodies from the old world. We often worked with the Reapers but politely turned down Volk’s invitation to join them – no offence meant, we just prefer to go our own way. The days seemed to pass quietly and mostly comfortably, until one day we took shelter from a storm in an abandoned building.

It took a few minutes for us to recognize the sort of shop it used to be… and that’s when it hit Vagabond. He walked down the aisles in silence, running his fingers over dusty toys, kennels and feeding bowls, before finally picking up a mildewed leather collar. When he turned back to me, his eyes were moist. Once upon a time, in an era barely remembered, people shared their lives with other animals. Hunter had lost his dog to Advent. The pet store had escaped Resistance scavengers since most of the items held little value to them. A few hushed whispers later, we had finally found a purpose after the war and began cleaning out the entire stock.

The surge of people leaving Advent cities was putting a strain on Resistance encampments. After twenty years of lining up to flash their ID at lamp posts, barely any of them could remember how to hunt, farm, fish or fight. It was time to re-domesticate dogs to help them.

We now have a ‘revolving door’ system where we trap about three or four dogs a week, lavish them for another month with food, medical care, affection and training; and then trade or give them away. I was surprised at first how young and physically strong they all were. Feral dogs rarely live to five years of age, Hunter explained, but with human care, dogs would easily reach their teens. The ones we caught were hardy mutts, mostly medium to large sized. Twenty years had not been enough to completely breed out some of their original genetic specializations, so it was possible to broadly assess a dog as a suitable herder, hunter, guard or generalist. The herding dogs are quickly taken in by Resistance settlements to work with livestock.

Reapers mostly prefer hounds and hunting dogs with dense fur and a lean build; that can cover as much ground in hard weather as they do and seek out game for their Vektors. Retriever dogs are harder to find - those get snapped up immediately.

The Skirmishers are inexperienced with animals, so we normally give them generalist or guard dogs with short, maintenance-free coats and loud barks. Resilient guardians that are also shrewd enough to charm their handlers into giving them everything they need to survive.

Templars pick up ferocious, bulky mastiffs and terriers as war dogs. While they are meek and gentle with allies, only a psionic could keep them alive by reaching past their natural tenacity in battle, to command them to disengage and move with precision.

Hunter held off keeping a dog for himself for a long time. He insisted that none could replace the one he had lost…until one day, when we picked up a shaggy black-and-white dog that resembled a collie. He thinks she’s about seven years old, and therefore older and smarter than the ones we rehomed. When Hunter named her Sakota, I knew she was here to stay. I saw them curled up together by the fire one day. Sakota and I are the only creatures that can make Hunter smile in his sleep.

As for myself…well, I…uh…let’s just say I’m still thinking up a way to explain this to him…oh well, here it goes…

**-Unzipping noise-**

“Hunter, I’d like you to meet my cat.”

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Derek Walters Helmet Camera: 0700 hours; En route to New Providence; ETA 15 minutes. **The gentle hum of the Skirmisher dropship drowns out most of the troops chatter. There are 10 of them. Highest ranking is Sarge, a military leader from one of the havens out in Russia. His second in command is, Rogers, an ex-PMC mercenary. Their sniper was a quiet fellow who went by Nick. Their heavy weapons expert, Deborah, who wielded a massive chaingun and matching grenade launcher. Walters and Jenkins were both new, having never fought in a real battle before. Mendez served as the team's medic, with a specialized GREMLIN hovering above him. And rounding out the team were the three most competent. Skirmishers by the names of Hax, Bane, and Sol. They converse, some nervous, some excited. A single voice shouts over them:** Pilot: Standby for drop: 5 kilometers to drop point. **The men quiet. The moment they've been waiting for has come. *Several minutes pass** Pilot: Alright people! Launching in 10... 9... 8... **The dropship banks right, evens out, and slowly descends** 7... 6... 5... 4... **The doors start to open** 3... 2... 1... **The door drops to the pavement, and the soldiers charge out into the cacophony of gunfire**

Sarge: Remember the mission! We need to save as many civilians as we can, and secure vital sites throughout the city! Nick, get up to the highest roof you can find and pick some higher value targets! Sol, you're his spotter! Mendez, Jenkins, Walters! There are resistance forces pinned down by a Gene Clinic two blocks from here! Find a way there and provide support! The rest of us will join up with the majority of our forces to sweep the streets and clear out the bulk of Advent forces! Am I clear! **In unison:** Yes Sir! Sarge: Good luck out there! **The Troops all move out. Walters, Jenkins, and Mendez rush into an alleyway.** Jenkins: What's the plan? Mendez: We'll weave through the alley and building and remain out of sight. When we reach the pinned troops, We'll regroup and provide support. You two lay down covering fire while I administer medical aid. Walters: Got it! **They move through the alley, pausing every so often to listen. At one point they here a clicking noise along the rooftops, but can't see anything. Eventually they reach the clinic. From their cover in the alley, they can see the pinned soldiers, eight in all still fighting, many more wounded or dead. They are pinned behind a makeshift barricade made from sandbags and the wreckage of a truck.** Mendez: On my mark... **Eventually, there is a lull in the shooting**... Mendez: Now! **They rush to the barricades, gunfire whizzing past them! They dive behind, and slump to the ground.** Soldier: You the backup?! Mendez: Yeah, we're a bit spread thin at the moment. Soldier: We need a medic! Mendez: That's me. Soldier: Great! Mendez: Start giving us some cover! **Walters and Jenkins lean over the barricades and start firing. They can't see inside the clinic, not through the smoke and the flame. All they know is that whatever is inside is firing back. Plasma shots fly past them. One of the soldiers is struck in the head and killed instantly.**

Walters: Nick! Do you have a visual. Nick: Yes. I see you. Walters: Do you have a shot? Nick: Negative. Walters: Dammit. How much ammo do we have? Soldier: 'Bout four mags a man. Walters: We're not gonna last long out here. Jenkins: They won't break cover, they'd never risk it! If we just conserve our ammo, we can hold out until the Fortress has been destroyed! Walters: And how long will that take?! **Another soldier is hit.** Mendez: We should fall back. If we don't, they'll try to flush us out, and that won't end well for us. How many of the wounded can walk? Soldier: Not many. Walters: Do we have any smoke grenades? Soldier: We got 3 left. Walters: I have an idea. Nick, get ready. We're going to lay down some smoke grenades and make a break for the nightclub across the street. I need you to pick off any aliens who try to advance. Do you copy? Nick: Yeah, I copy. Wait, Sol, what's going on? **An ear piercing screech echoes through the streets.** Walters: Nick get out of there! **Walters hears Sol screaming as he is overrun by a Chrysallid swarm.** Mendez: No time to waste, let's go! **Jenkins tosses all three smoke grenades, the team picks up the wound, and limp away. The screaming from the rooftop continues, and the Chrysallid swarm begins pursuit. They began to gain ground on the team. Closer, and closer still. They can hardly see through the smoke. Walters runs alongside the original squad leader, each carrying a wounded soldier. Then, a sickening crunch. The body of the wound soldier falls, as the squad leader is impaled by the claw of a Chrysallid.**

**Holding back tears, Walters keeps running. Before long, what's left of the team breaks the lock to the nightclub door. Immediately they bar the door with furniture, decorations, anything to hold the aliens at bay.** Walters: How many do we have left? He stares in dismay at the mere five soldiers remaining, and the three wounded beside them. That left the team with nine people. Walters, Mendez, Jenkins, three of the original team, and three wounded soldiers. Walters: What do we do now? **One of the soldiers comes forward. His dog tag reads Private Cunningham.** Cunningham: There should be a basement here. Maybe we can use it to find an access tunnel. We can use it to regroup with the majority of our forces, or even escape the city! Mendez: A good option, but we don't know what we'll find down there. A berserker roars on the other side of the door. Jenkins: Whatever we do, we gotta do it fast! **The berserker rams the barricade. It cracks and buckles, but remains intact.** Mendez: Take cover! **The door smashes open as the berserker rushes in, and everyone starts firing. In a fit of rage, the berserker slams down on the nearest resistance soldier, breaking his back. The shots continue. The beast whirled around, slamming it's foot down on one of the wounded soldiers. The men start to flee. Advent troops start advancing, and what's left of the squad runs for the basement. Shots ring out as another soldier drops. The alien soon becomes preoccupied with the two wounded soldiers in the lobby, leaving the four remaining to escape. They enter the basement, find the access hatch, and make their way to the tunnels.** Walters: Oh God, why? Mendez: We don't have a very good signal down here. And we don't have any kind of rallying point! Jenkins: What do we do! **The group stares down the subway tunnel.** Cunningham: Only one thing we can do. 

**After almost thirty minutes of creeping along the tracks, the team finds a station.** Cunningham: Wait! You hear that? **Faint, but unmistakable sounds of resistance fighters echo down the tunnels.** Walters: This is it! **They eagerly rush up to find a large resistance force driving back an Advent platoon. Alongside them are Sarge, Deborah, and Bane. Jenkins: Finally! *The four beleaguered troopers join up with the main force, and before long, the aliens are sent into full retreat!** Central: To all surviving XCOM operatives, The operation was a success, I repeat, the operation was a success! Mendez: But at what cost? Walters: A great one, but not an unsustainable one. Remember that loss is inevitable. But never let it take a toll on you. Grieve, mourn, do what you will, but in the end, never let it control you. Never let it drive you to give in. Because in the end, you've only ever truly lost something when you give up on it.

**\-------end--------------**


	74. Appendix

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A compilation of links to all campaign references and affiliated fics.

Links:  
1\. Campaign playthrough: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nnGtoEwNBQ&list=PLj_Goi54wf0eKfIwCCXmRHxfVZT_aPg1C  
2\. ChristopherOdd Discord channel: https://discord.gg/christopherodd  
3\. FleetAdmiralJ's mission and soldier statistics tracking site: http://fleettwitch.live/xcom/wotc2/index.html

Affiliated fics:  
1\. Tis the Season to be XCOM: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14172639  
2\. A tale of Collux and Chill: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14220114  
3\. XCOM's Victory Celebration: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14220699

4\. Intercepted ADVENT High Command logs: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14220921


End file.
